Aon Sues Integro For Pirating Staff

Newly-minted Integro insurance brokerage, after months of announcements touting the arrival of new hires from competing companies, has been hit by Aon Group with a suit over its recruiting practices.

In the suit, filed in Superior Court of Fulton County, Ga., Chicago-based insurance broker Aon claims that Integro, based in New York, violated employment agreements by recruiting both the firm's personnel and business.

The suit, which also names David J. Finnis and Gary Marchitello as defendants, accuses Integro of pursuing an “ambitious and aggressive campaign to pirate employees from Aon Group.”

Both Mr. Marchitello and Mr. Finnis were high-profile executives within Aon and took equally high-profile positions at Integro.

In May last year, Integro opened its doors under the leadership of Bob Clement, the founder of Arch Capital based in Bermuda, and two former Marsh chief executives, Roger Egan and Peter Garvey.

Aon claims that after Mr. Marchitello was hired by Integro in the fall of 2005, he brought Mr. Finnis in, and together they began recruiting up to 13 Aon employees for Integro. Aon claims it was harmed by the personnel losses, at one point gutting the firm's Atlanta office of employees.

“Integro, a fledgling insurance brokerage, has, as a result, essentially built a ready-made National Property Practice infrastructure by pirating it from Aon,” the firm said in its suit.

Aon further charges that the executives violated exclusivity provisions, recruiting business for Integro while still at Aon. The agreement also calls on the employees not to solicit Aon's clients for two years after leaving the firm, which they also violated.

Mr. Finnis is accused of stealing one major account from Aon, Hospital Corporation of America.

Aon, which filed its suit on Feb. 23, is seeking injunctive relief from Integro's actions and unspecified monetary damages, plus court and attorney costs.

A spokesman for Aon declined to comment further on the suit.

Integro did not return a request for comment.

In a speech in New York (NU Online Feb. 9), Mr. Clement said Integro was created to take advantage of a demand among insurers for more distribution avenues for large accounts.

He said Integro is unique in that it offers “significant employee ownership, which is important.” He said because the firm was created from scratch and not burdened with legacy issues, it was “free to handpick the very best brokers in the industry.”