He told his cruise clients he had moved. A court said stop, for now

Matthew Kensett sold Silversea cruises directly to customers as a private cruise consultant from December 2016, on a base salary of $61,069 under his latest contract, plus commission. That contract, signed in December 2024, barred him for 12 months after leaving from contacting clients with a view to them moving their business, and from using confidential client information. His employment ended on 7 August 2025. In about October 2025 he joined Savenio, a travel agency that also sells Silversea cruises and is paid commission by Silversea for doing so.

Mr Kensett had brought his own case against Silversea, claiming it dismissed him for exercising a workplace right. Silversea answered with a cross-claim that he had misused its confidential client information and solicited its clients. He accepted that he had contacted a fair number of them to say he had moved and could help them, and over 30 bookings were made through him, but he said none of this breached his contract.

Judge Zipser made interim orders and did not decide the case finally. At this stage, the judge said, Silversea had a comparatively strong case. Client contact details were arguably confidential under his contract even if he remembered them, and telling clients he was 'available to assist them' looked like soliciting. On Silversea's evidence, each cruise booked through an agency instead of its own consultants cost it more. Mr Kensett could keep working at Savenio; he just could not chase those clients.

He was restrained until 7 August 2026 from soliciting clients he had dealt with in his last year, but allowed to keep servicing bookings already made. A month later the court added more clients to that exception, and warned that taking a booking from a client who contacted him first might still breach the orders. It refused Silversea's bid for its costs: without a lawyer, he had not acted unreasonably in standing his ground.