Alliant prevails in employee "raid" lawsuit by rival Aon

A California jury has dismissed the poaching claims made by re/insurance broker Aon, and ruled in favour of insurance brokerage firm Alliant Insurance Services.

The jury delivered its verdict on March 22, rejecting Aon's claim against Alliant and ten former Aon employees, including "breach of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, breach of loyalty, intentional interference with contracts, and misappropriation of trade secrets."

The case arose in 2014 when ten producers followed by other employees from Aon's Fresno, Salinas, and Walnut Creek offices left the company to join rival Alliant Insurance Services.

According to a statement by California-based Alliant, Aon argued the departures were a "raid" orchestrated by a conspiracy, however, later dropped half of its claims. The Fresno jury ruled in favour of Alliant and rejected Aon’s remaining claims after less than five hours of deliberation, the company added.

After hearings in both California and New York courts, Alliant already prevailed when a New York court rejected Aon’s request for injunctive relief and stated that California law applied to the dispute, followed by the California court’s 2015 ruling that Aon’s non-compete agreements were unenforceable under California law.

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