On Monday, May 12, Centauri Specialty Insurance Holdings, and Centauri Specialty Managers (CSM) were granted expedited discovery in a lawsuit against Wellington Insurance Group for breach of contract and related violations.
Applied Underwriters, Inc. had recently acquired Centauri Specialty Insurance Holdings, and during that acquisition, some Centauri employees left the company to work at Wellington Insurance Group.
The initial lawsuit, filed on May 1 in Sarasota County, Florida, alleges that Wellington Insurance of Texas breached a confidentiality agreement and nonsolicitation provisions that were agreed upon by both parties during negotiations for the acquisition of Centauri. Jeffrey Silver, the Executive VP and General Counsel of Applied, commented: "We are holding that a civil conspiracy existed between the defendants to use Centauri's confidential information to gain an unfair competitive advantage."
The suit seeks an injunction to prevent Wellington from employing Centauri's former employees, and also from using Centauri's confidential information and trade secrets.
The suit specifically names several defendants, including Centauri Specialty Managers' former chief risk officer; actuary and director; director of product management; and former vice president of sales and agency relations, claiming all four were hired by Wellington.
Along with the breach of contract claim, the suit alleges that there was a violation of a nonsolicitation agreement between Centauri and Wellington, which precluded Wellington from "directly or indirectly" soliciting any current Centauri employees. The suit also contains allegations that the four former employees breached confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements.
Applied is seeking the injunctive relief and the more than $30 million in damages because the company had just expanded to nine states, and would be deeply harmed by the advantages and confidential information wrongfully given to Wellington, a known competitor.
The Court has set the hearing on Centauri's motion for preliminary injunction to be decided for June 8.
Editors Note: Because this case is time-sensitive, with Wellington gaining as Applied is losing due to the current circumstances, the fact that the court has now allowed an expedited discovery process should ensure that the case is decided in a timely manner, and prevent more unnecessary losses or undue gains from occurring.