Insurance broker Aon won another round in its ongoing dispute with Alliant Insurance Services Inc. over the poaching of business and employees, which allegedly did serious harm to Aon’s Construction Services Group.
Aon won a preliminary injunction against Newport Beach, Calif.-based Alliant in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Dec. 20, barring former Aon employee Michael Cusack and Alliant from soliciting business from, or entering into any business with, Aon customers with whom any former Aon employees now with Alliant had worked. It also bars Alliant from soliciting any Aon Construction Services employees to come to work for the company.
In his decision, Justice Bernard J. Fried found Cusack—and others—violated their non-compete agreements when they left Aon and joined Alliant.
The judge says Cusack, who worked in the Northeast, had to know that executives in Aon’s Construction Services Group were negotiating with Alliant and that they would all be leaving Aon at the same time.
Fried says that if the case should go to trial, Aon is likely to succeed in its claim that Cusack breached an employment agreement and other related standards of his employment. Aon is also likely to succeed in its claim that Cusack breached his non-compete agreement, the judge added.
However, Fried said there is no evidence that Cusack or other employees absconded with any company trade secrets.
On the day Cusack and Peter Arkley, former CEO of Aon Construction Services Group, departed, 15 Aon clients moved their business to Alliant, and 38 employees in the group left to join Alliant.
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