Duffield will not face Evershed in court

John Duffield, the founder of New Star, will not be appearing in court during the case brought against his former company by Patrick Evershed.

Investment Week understands Duffield, who has previously been accused by former colleague Evershed of "bullying" staff when he ran New Star, will not be called as a witness by the defence, and has not issued a witness statement.

It means Duffield cannot be cross-examined by Evershed's legal team during the hearing for constructive dismissal taking place at an employment tribunal in London, despite his alleged actions being at the heart of the case.

Ex-New Star fund manager Evershed, now 70, is fighting for lost earnings amounting to over £1m, after claiming he was the victim of constructive dismissal while at New Star.

He left the group in 2008 after accusing his former employer of bullying.

In a letter to the group's human resources team before he left, he wrote Duffield "has been most vile to most of the fund managers for several years and bullying us".

"In particular he bullied me into reopening my fund. This destroyed the performance of the fund and my reputation."

Last year Evershed was given the green light to pursue Henderson - New Star's new owners - for unfair dismissal.

New Star was bought by Henderson in 2009, and its new owners are now defending the claims.

The group would have been made aware of any outstanding legal disputes prior to purchasing New Star. Evershed accused Duffield of bullying fund managers before leaving New Star.

Duffield now runs investment firm Brompton Asset Management.

The case, scheduled to last for ten days, continues.