Howden Tiger Lawsuit: Brown & Brown, Aon, Marsh Cases

Since 2023, Howden Group Holdings has been sued by at least nine rival insurance and reinsurance brokers on both sides of the Atlantic, all making the same core allegation: that the London-headquartered firm systematically raids competitors’ teams, takes their clients, and misuses confidential information to fuel its expansion. The Howden poaching lawsuits include actions by Guy Carpenter, Aon, Marsh, Willis Towers Watson (twice), Brown & Brown, Alliant, IMA Financial Group, and PIB Group’s Acquinex. Howden settled the Guy Carpenter case with a public admission of “unlawful recruitment,” courts have granted temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions in several U.S. cases, and most of the remaining actions are still in active litigation as of mid-2026.

Guy Carpenter’s UK Case and Howden’s Admission

Guy Carpenter, the reinsurance arm of Marsh McLennan, filed the first major suit in April 2023 in the High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division, naming Howden Group Holdings and more than a dozen related entities and individuals. The complaint alleged an “unlawful means conspiracy” in which two senior employees, Massimo Reina and Sebastian Cook, secretly planned their departures and then recruited more than 30 colleagues to resign in coordinated waves with similarly worded emails.¹

The court ordered an expedited trial for October 2023 and imposed interim restrictions barring Howden from hiring further Guy Carpenter staff.² Just before that trial, Howden settled. In a public statement, the company acknowledged that it and “certain of its executive officers, engaged in unlawful recruitment from Guy Carpenter as set out in the admissions made to the High Court,” specifically naming Elliot Richardson and Massimo Reina, who “regret the actions they have taken.”³ Financial terms were not disclosed. Guy Carpenter CEO Dean Klisura said the record showed Howden senior executives “knowingly planning and implementing an unlawful conspiracy.”⁴

Brown & Brown’s Holiday Weekend Suit

The largest and most dramatic case erupted over the 2025 holidays. On December 18–19, 2025, roughly 200 Brown & Brown employees resigned to join Howden, many from teams that originated with Hays Companies, the firm Brown & Brown had bought for $705 million in 2018.⁵ Hays Companies founder Jim Hays had joined Howden as vice chairman in August 2025.⁶

Brown & Brown sued on December 22, 2025, in the Suffolk Superior Court’s Business Litigation Session in Massachusetts, naming Howden US Services and 32 former employees. The complaint alleged trade secret theft, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, and unfair competition. According to the pleading, an internal group nicknamed “Seal Team Six” used encrypted messaging to coordinate the move, ported company phone numbers to personal devices, and solicited clients while still employed. One former employee allegedly extended offers to 31 colleagues the day before the mass resignation, with 27 accepting.⁷ Brown & Brown alleged the timing over Hanukkah and Christmas was chosen to maximize harm and complicate any emergency court response.⁵

On December 29, 2025, a Massachusetts judge signed a consented-to temporary restraining order. It barred Howden and the individual defendants from soliciting additional Brown & Brown employees and from servicing Brown & Brown clients, with a narrow exception for clients who had already signed a broker-of-record letter by 5:00 p.m. that day. Defendants were also ordered to return confidential information and company devices and to disable any auto-delete functions on messaging apps such as Signal.⁸

Howden’s defense argued the departures reflected dissatisfaction with Brown & Brown’s management and compensation, not any predatory scheme, and said departing employees were given “do’s and don’ts” documents to prevent misuse of confidential information.⁹

A parallel action followed in Minnesota, where about 40 of the departing employees were based. On May 7, 2026, a Minnesota court granted a separate temporary restraining order, finding both irreparable harm and a likelihood of success on the merits. The order requires more than a dozen defendants to honor nondisclosure, nonsolicitation, and non-recruitment obligations, while allowing Howden to keep serving clients that transferred between December 18, 2025 and May 7, 2026, as long as the company logs all work performed.⁷

Marsh’s Florida Leadership Case

Marsh USA sued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in July 2025, targeting four former senior Florida executives — Michael Parrish, Giselle Lugones, Robert Lynn, and Julie Layton — whom Marsh accused of “spearheading an unlawful scheme to lift out all of Marsh’s Florida zone employees” to help Howden enter the U.S. retail market. Marsh alleged the group recruited over 100 Marsh employees and took major clients along with them.¹⁰ In September 2025, the court granted Marsh a preliminary injunction against soliciting Marsh employees and clients and against using Marsh’s confidential information and trade secrets. Parrish later appeared on Howden’s leadership page as CEO of Howden Americas.¹¹

Aon’s UK and U.S. Actions

Aon pursued Howden on two continents. Its UK suit, filed in 2023 in the High Court (case number KB-2023-004487), alleged a coordinated effort to strip staff from Aon’s cyber, marine, and international segments across Brazil and Europe.¹⁰ As of mid-2026, that case is listed as “Concluded (Stayed),” with its last recorded activity in April 2026.¹²

Aon then filed in U.S. federal court in New York on December 12, 2025, against former managing director Anthony Rampersaud, former account executive Nancy Montalvo, and Howden US Services. The complaint alleged Rampersaud met with founder David Howden during an Aon-funded business trip to London in late September 2025 and then orchestrated a mass resignation on November 25, 2025, taking his entire team of six.¹³ Aon further alleged Rampersaud directed an assistant to ship boxes of confidential documents to his home, and that Montalvo emailed a list of 55 clients to her personal account before resigning. More than 45 other employees had left for Howden “under similarly suspicious circumstances,” according to the complaint.¹⁴ Within two weeks, Aon obtained an injunction. It is also seeking monetary and punitive damages and the return of all proprietary materials.¹⁵

Willis Towers Watson’s Two Lawsuits

WTW has filed two separate suits. The first involved Danielle Lombardo, a former Willis executive who joined Howden as vice chair of its U.S. retail operations in September 2025. WTW sued Lombardo and Howden US in New Jersey federal court in October 2025, alleging she breached restrictive covenants and took clients worth more than $1 million each in annual revenue, specifically naming Time Equities and Fundamental Advisors. A temporary injunction in November 2025 barred her from soliciting employees and accepting business from restricted clients, and the parties reached a settlement in principle on December 16, 2025 with undisclosed terms.¹⁶

The second WTW case was filed in May 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Howden US and five former yacht and marine insurance specialists — Nancy Poppe, Diana Fabozzi, Jasmyn Tomlinson, Kathleen Shea, and Christel Lynn Lincoln — all of whom resigned from WTW’s Broward County office between late December 2025 and early January 2026. WTW alleged coordinated departures, access to confidential client lists, and solicitation of clients for Howden, with six named clients moving over. Poppe was appointed practice head of yachts and chair of Howden Superyachts. The case remains pending.¹⁷

Alliant’s Texas Energy Team Case

Alliant Insurance Services sued on January 6, 2026 in Harris County, Texas state court, naming three former energy and marine team members — Jessie Guerrero, Christina Murphy, and Sunnie Fairburn — along with Howden US Specialty. Alliant alleged the trio “orchestrated en masse resignations,” screenshotted hundreds of client files, and spread industry rumors that Alliant had lost its energy property team in order to induce clients to leave. On January 19, 2026, the parties agreed to a temporary consent injunction that prohibits use or disclosure of Alliant’s confidential information and bars Guerrero and Murphy from soliciting specific clients and employees covered by their nonsolicitation agreements. The injunction runs through trial, and the individual defendants reserved the right to seek arbitration.¹⁸

IMA Financial Group’s Pacific Northwest Case

The most recent U.S. filing came on June 15, 2026, when IMA Financial Group and its subsidiary Parker, Smith & Feek Insurance sued Alexander Hamilton, IMA’s former marine practice leader for the Pacific Northwest, along with Howden US Services and Howden US Specialty in U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon. IMA alleged Hamilton met with Howden representatives during an IMA-funded business trip, then coordinated the resignations of six employees — over 60% of IMA’s Pacific Northwest marine practice — on March 24, 2026, less than 24 hours after his own departure. Four clients representing “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in annual revenue were allegedly converted to Howden via broker-of-record letters. IMA is seeking injunctions, punitive damages, and disgorgement of profits.¹⁹

PIB Group’s UK Warranty and Indemnity Case

Back in London, PIB Group’s subsidiary Acquinex opened High Court proceedings in January 2025 against Howden, its managing general agent Dual International, and four individuals: David Howden, Dual CEO Richard Clapham, and former Acquinex employees Paul Smith and Adam Love. Acquinex alleged that Howden and Dual poached a warranty and indemnity insurance team reportedly numbering around 32 employees after Paul Smith’s resignation.²⁰ A recent case management hearing addressed document disclosure, and trial is scheduled for February 2027.²¹

The Recurring Playbook

The complaints describe a nearly identical sequence across firms and jurisdictions. A senior recruit meets with a rival’s staff, sometimes during a business trip paid for by the current employer. A group of colleagues resigns on the same day or over a short window, often with similarly worded emails. Confidential client information is allegedly accessed or removed shortly before the departures. Broker-of-record letters follow within days, transferring the accounts to Howden. Industry reporting has described Howden as having a “track record of arranging team moves.”¹⁰

The plaintiffs’ legal theories reflect the current U.S. regulatory environment. Broad non-competes face growing skepticism — the FTC’s attempted nationwide non-compete ban was vacated by a federal court in August 2024, and the agency abandoned its appeal in September 2025. Employers have shifted to claims of trade secret misappropriation, breach of non-solicitation covenants, breach of the duty of loyalty, and tortious interference. Several courts have granted temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions on those theories.⁷

Where the Cases Stand

The Guy Carpenter case and the WTW-Lombardo case have settled. The UK Aon case is stayed. The Brown & Brown, Marsh, U.S. Aon, WTW yacht team, Alliant, IMA, and PIB/Acquinex actions remain in active litigation. Howden has continued to hire from competitors during the litigation, including two Guy Carpenter veterans recruited for its Latin America reinsurance operations.²²

1
vLex UK. Guy Carpenter and Company Ltd v Howden Group Holdings Ltd
2
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3
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Insurance Business Magazine. Howden Issues Apology Amid Poaching Allegations Settlement
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Howden Group Holdings. Howden Brings Its Unique Entrepreneurial Model to US Retail Broking Market
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Insurance Business Magazine. Brown and Brown Wins TRO Against Howden Over Alleged Employee Raiding
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Agency Checklists. Howden’s Holiday Poaching of 200 Employees Ends in Lawsuit
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Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Insurance Brokerage Employee Poaching Trade Secrets
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Insurance Business Magazine. Recruitment Raids and Legal Battles: Marsh Launches Lawsuit Over Poaching
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Caseboard. Aon UK Limited v Howden Group Holdings Limited
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Insurance Insider. Aon v. Howden, Case No. 1:25-cv-10275-ER
14
PropertyCasualty360. Aon Files Suit Against Howden US
15
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16
The Insurer. WTW and Lombardo Reach Settlement in Howden Poaching Case
17
Business Insurance. WTW Sues Howden Over Alleged Yacht Team Raid
18
The Insurer. Alliant, Howden Agree to Temporary Consent Injunction in Texas Poaching Lawsuit
19
Insurance Journal. IMA Sues Howden Over Alleged Employee Poaching
20
Law360. Howden Accused of Poaching Entire W&I Team From PIB
21
Insurance Age. PIB and Howden Court Case Rolls On With Hearing Set for February 2027
22
Insurance Business Magazine. Howden Re Taps Two Guy Carpenter Veterans for LatAm Push