NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Asset manager Fisher Investments is suing Wachovia Securities for hiring a former salesmen who allegedly breached a nondisclosure pact.

Thomas Casper, formerly a regional salesman and vice president with Fisher's private client group, joined the Wachovia Corp. (WB) unit as a financial advisor Oct. 20 after a 10-day stint at Smith Barney.

In a case filed last month at a state court in Orange County, Calif., Fisher claimed Casper provided Wachovia with proprietary trade information and told Fisher clients that the asset-management company has underperformed and that clients are "leaving in droves."

Casper declined to comment on the suit, and so did Wachovia spokesman Tony Mattera.

Casper spent five years at Fisher, where he solicited clients for the company. He left the asset manager Oct. 6 for a financial advisor job at Citigroup Inc. ( C) unit Smith Barney. But he had to leave Smith Barney after just 10 days, because the Citigroup Inc. (C) unit had a noncompetition agreement with Fisher, one of the bank's prime brokerage clients, people familiar with the situation said.

Meanwhile, Fisher on Oct. 10initiated claims against Casper for "breach of several agreements and misappropriation of proprietary trade secrets," said Bill McBride, a spokesman for Fisher Investments.

After leaving Smith Barney, Casper began looking at a move to Wachovia. Upon learning of his plans, Fisher wrote to a Wachovia branch manager about its claims against Casper and expressed its intent to "file a suit against him and any employer who contributed to Casper's alleged infringement of Fisher's proprietary rights."

-By Evelyn Juan, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2312; evelyn.juan@dowjones.com

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  11-10-06 1526ET
  Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.