MMA sues rival for allegedly poaching surety brokers, clients

Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC sued a rival for allegedly raiding its North Carolina-based surety brokerage division in January and convincing at least 42 clients to transfer their business.

MMA also named four former employees in the lawsuit, Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC v. IMA Financial Group Inc. et al., filed in federal court in Durham, North Carolina, on March 20. The brokers had worked at McGriff Insurance Services Inc., which MMA acquired in November 2024, before joining Denver-based IMA.

MMA said in the lawsuit that IMA “orchestrated the mass, simultaneous departure of half of MMA’s North Carolina surety division, including key producers and client service personnel, in a brazen scheme to misappropriate MMA’s client relationships.”

Christopher Lydick, James Holden Keen, James Michael McCreadie and Megan Bartman were high-performing employees with access to MMA’s confidential information and had signed nonsolicitation and confidentiality agreements prohibiting them from disclosing trade secrets and contacting restricted clients for three years after leaving the brokerage, the lawsuit states.

MMA alleges its former brokers breached their agreements by convincing clients to do business with IMA while they were still employed at MMA. It also says IMA convinced six other employees to leave the brokerage.

MMA said its North Carolina surety team now has only one broker, two account managers and three client service specialists, and that it only learned about the alleged scheme between the former employees and IMA shortly after their resignations.

Representatives for the parties did not respond to requests for comment.