The deal was supposed to keep the peace - one banquet speech tested its limits
A company described a departing executive's conduct as "mistreatment" at a banquet. A court ruled the word was too vague for defamation.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal on September 11, 2026, rejecting all four claims the founder of employee benefits firm GBS Benefits had brought against his former company, the Leavitt Group, and the group's chief executive.
The case sits squarely in the space HR teams navigate after a difficult senior exit: how much can the company say publicly, and where does a non-disparagement clause draw the line?
The plaintiff founded GBS in 1989 and led it until stepping down as CEO in April 2021. The Leavitt Group, which had taken a majority stake in 2006, kept him on. In early 2023, employees told his successor they had "concerns that [he] was tough, intense, and demanding." An outside firm investigated, and GBS let him go effective June 30, 2023.
At a June 2024 conference banquet attended by about 800 people, the group's CEO honored the new leader and described "a series of deeply unfortunate interactions" involving "the former CEO" and staff who had "reached the breaking point" over "mistreatment." The company, he said, followed "a careful process prescribed by HR policies" before it "had no other choice but to immediately part ways" with him.
The former CEO argued the speech accused him of sexual misconduct, especially read alongside an earlier town...
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