Minnesota AG Targets Willis

Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch went to court last week seeking to compel Willis Group Holdings Ltd. to provide various documents as part of an investigation of the London-based brokerage's business practices.

Mr. Hatch, who is investigating brokerage fee agreements with insurers, filed a 400-page motion in state district court in St. Paul seeking billing records from Willis of Minnesota for dealings with a handful of clients.

The attorney general said the company was subpoenaed last year and failed to deliver requested materials, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Mr. Hatch was quoted in the paper as saying: “We're not suing them for fraudyet.”

Willis put out a statement saying they had supplied some material and tried to discuss providing other voluminous material requested when Mr. Hatch surprised them with court action and statements to the press.

The company said it was “appalled and offended” and would fight him in court if the matter could not be worked out.

Willis said it had not had time to review the motion, but that it “contains a number of inflammatory and inaccurate statements.”

“In every other state that has made similar requests for information, the regulatory or governmental agencies have been willing to discuss the terms of their requests. This is the first time any authority has ignored our requests for a dialogue or expressed dissatisfaction with Willis' cooperation,” the company said.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, March 10, 2005. Copyright 2005 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.