Howden US Tells Judge Brown & Brown Employees Fled Due to ‘Mistreatment’
In a Christmas court filing, Howden US filed its response to a request by rival Brown & Brown for a temporary restraining order, saying the recent exodus of Brown & Brown employees to Howden US was “caused entirely by Brown’s mistreatment of people.”
Last week Brown & Brown filed a lawsuit in Superior Court in Massachusetts against Howden US and dozens of individuals over allegations of trade-secret theft, contract breaches, and unfair competition. The Florida-based broker asked for an injunction.
Related: Brown & Brown Files Suit Over Alleged Howden Poaching of 200+ Employees
On December 26, Howden US, on behalf of itself and 28 individual defendants, shot back in a filing and told the judge that the story is not about a “shocking pirate raid” but it is a tale of “employees who were so unhappy with Brown’s terrible management and poor, under-market compensation that, having been pushed to the brink, they were prepared to leave Brown without having secured subsequent employment.”
The filing said Howden gave them that employment, and told them not to take any confidential information.
“As far as clients, they were always going to follow — the nature of the industry is that clients follow their brokers,” said the opposition to the TRO, adding, “There was no grand plot to steal from Brown,” who’s energy would be better directed at “correcting its governance shortcomings and problematic corporate culture,” Howden said.
The injunction sought by Brown & Brown would harm the defendants’ ability to work, and the broker’s filing doesn’t include substantive allegations against a majority of individuals listed as defendants, Howden said. Brown & Brown has failed to show a TRO is warranted, Howden said.
The 72-page filing, seen here, includes claims of a deteriorating Brown & Brown corporate culture, paltry compensation, manipulative financial reporting, and employee discrimination. Brown & Brown did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Howden US, the new U.S. retail broking business of Howden launched in August with Mike Parrish as CEO, is also being sued by brokers, Aon, Marsh, and WTW.
Related: Aon Adds to List of Brokers Suing Howden US for Alleged Poaching, Theft
Howden in August also named Jim Hays as vice chairman of Howden Group Holdings. Hays was previously CEO of Hays Company, an insurance broker he founded in 1994 and sold to Brown & Brown in 2018. He then served as vice chair and was a member of the board at Brown & Brown. Interestingly, Hays Company is a listed plaintiff in the case against Howden US but Jim Hays is not listed a defendant. He did, however, file a declaration in response to allegations Brown & Brown made against him.
Brown & Brown in its complaint alleged Hays “fully participated in the planning and effectuation” of the so-called raid of employees, and is now “illegally trying to steal the business back.”
Hays said he holds a significant amount of Brown & Brown shares and has continued to buy more. “The idea in which I would intentionally harm a company in which I am heavily invested makes no sense and is contrary to my own financial interests,” Hays said, adding that he resigned from Brown & Brown in March 2024 after his employment with the broker was terminated in January of that year following a meeting with CEO Powell Brown during which Brown told Hays he did not want Hays involved in the business any longer.