Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. sued two former employees on Thursday, saying they worked as “double agents” for another brokerage founded by one of them.
Gallagher acquired most of the Parsippany, New Jersey-based assets. RPA Insurance Services LLP In May 2019, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. the matter is this Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. vs. Douglas Gatlin, Gundy Arnold a/k/a/ Gundy Abel aka Gundy Hoffman-Abel and Vertical Risk Management LLC.
According to the complaint, Ms. Arnold was an RPA manufacturer at the time, while Mr. Gatlin was an independent insurance consultant who also did some work for RPA while operating his own independent agency.
The complaint says Ms. Arnold joined Gallagher shortly after the closing of the acquisition, and Mr. Gatlin joined a few months later. Both joined as producers and signed restrictive contracts.
Mr. Gatlin left the company in June this year after founding Summit, New Jersey-based Vertical Risk Management LLC, which specializes in the restaurant business, and Ms. Arnold joined him in October.
The complaint states that for several months before Gallagher left, the defendants “acted as double agents for Vertical Risk, sending Gallagher confidential business information to personal email and phone accounts, and directing business away from Gallagher and Worked to turn it towards him. Vertical exposure.”
The complaint accuses the defendants of breach of agreement and fiduciary duties, aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duties, and tortious interference with contractual relations. In this, along with damages, temporary and permanent injunction has also been demanded.
Mr. Gatlin did not comment on the lawsuit.
