Lockton Cos. LLC and two former employees are suing one another in federal court in Kansas City, Missouri, and California state court over the issue of whether nonsolicitation agreements are enforceable in Missouri.
Last week, Lockton accused the former employees, who left the brokerage to join a California-based BRP Group Inc. unit, in its federal lawsuit of violating their nondisclosure and nonsolicitation agreements, among other charges.
The two former employees contend in their own lawsuit, which was filed in state court in California, that they should not be subject to Missouri law.
The BRP unit that Eric Brown and Andrew Douglas left Lockton to join, Tustin, California-based Burnham WGB Insurance Solutions, is not named as a defendant in the federal lawsuit, Lockton Cos., LLC-Pacific Series vs. Eric Brown and Andrew Douglas, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City.
According to Lockton’s complaint, Mr. Brown and Mr. Douglas, who had been associates and became owner and producer members of Lockton for 16 years and six years, respectively, violated their agreement to not disclose Lockton’s confidential information, and to terminate their ownership in Lockton when they left the brokerage without first giving 30 days’ notice.
The complaint says both men notified Lockton they were leaving the brokerage on July 21, “effective immediately.” It describes the men’s judgment action in California, which was also filed July 21, as “seeking to invalidate their contractual obligations in an obvious and willful breach of the Missouri choice-of-law and forum-selection clauses in their ownership agreements with Lockton.”
The California action, which was filed in state court in Santa Anna California, also names as a plaintiff Raymond Nguyen, a former Lockton employee, who is not named in the federal lawsuit.
That lawsuit says employee agreements signed by the three plaintiffs are unenforceable “because they blatantly violate the express prohibitions contained” in California law.
The federal lawsuit charges Mr. Brown and Mr. Douglas with misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, tortious interference with prospective business relationships and breach of fiduciary duties and/or duties of loyalty and seeks an injunction enjoining the defendants from joining Burnham or another competitor.
A BRP spokesman and Mr. Brown’s and Mr. Douglas’ attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
