USI Awarded Over $2M by Federal Jury in Case Against Former Employees
A federal judge in Atlanta this week awarded USI Insurance Services more than $2 million in compensatory and punitive damages to be paid by three former executives of its aviation group for breach of their employment contracts.
According to court documents from U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, a jury found that Jameson Taylor Anderson, Robert Dean Anderson, and Roger Maldonado – now with Lockton – failed to comply with non-solicitation covenants in their USI employment agreements and awarded USI $2.5 million in damages as well as $2.75 million in punitive damages.
District Court Judge Victoria Marie Calvert entered judgement against the Lockton employees for about $2.13 million, reducing the punitive damages to $250,000 under state law. According to court records, the breakdown of the awards for the former USI employees is as follows:
- Taylor Anderson: $1,125,000 in compensatory damages and $205,000 in punitive damages
- Dean Anderson: $250,000 in compensatory damages and $45,000 in punitive damages
- Roger Maldonado: $500,000 in compensatory damages
A case against Lockton was dismissed with prejudice.
Taylor Anderson, Dean Anderson, and Maldonado had sued USI in 2019, claiming the employment agreements were unlawful and prevented them from earning a living following their resignations from USI’s aviation group. USI filed a counterclaim in 2020, claiming the trio of former employees resigned abruptly in violation of their employment contracts, and communicated with USI clients.
USI said it had no comment on the verdict.