Adviser’s Noncompete Clause Upheld by Court

A federal court in Connecticut has prohibited David B. Austin from using any confidential client information originating from his former employer, AmWINS Group Inc., at his new employer, R-T Specialty.  

David B. Austin and R-T Specialty, a division of Chicago-based Ryan Specialty Group, agreed to an August 27th court order barring Austin’s use of records of about 266 AmWINS clients for one year – however, R-T is allowed to accept business from those clients as long as Austin is not involved.   

Tim Turner, president and CEO of R-T Specialty, told a reporter that AmWINS “never proved that (Austin) violated his noncompete agreement” with AmWINS, adding that Mr. Austin “lived up to his employment agreement” with the wholesale insurance brokerage. 

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Austin worked for AmWINS from 2005 until May of this year. As part of his employment, Austin signed an agreement saying that he would not disclose or use any confidential information he had as an employee of AmWINS or Stewart Smith Group Inc., which was acquired by AmWINS from Willis Group Holdings Ltd. in 2005, according to the complaint.  

According to court documents, soon after Austin left AmWINS and began working for R-T Specialty, AmWINS began losing clients to R-T.  

AmWINS also alleges that R-T Specialty is in the practice of poaching employees from established firms in order to build their client base. According to BusinessInsurance.com, AmWINS’ complaint uses R-T’s President, Tim Turner, as an example.   Turner was president of wholesale brokerage CRC Insurance Services Inc. in January, before moving over to R-T.  

Three days after his departure from CRC, R-T and Turner filed a lawsuit in California against CRC to void the noncompetition and nonsolicitation agreements Turner signed when he was with CRC, according to the complaint.   

“R-T Specialty has only ‘expanded’ by massive raids previously unparalleled in scope followed by strategic filing of lawsuits bent on voiding more than 100 employment agreements,” AmWINS said in its complaint. “Members of the industry are understandably concerned that it is open season for their employees and customers.” 

Turner denied the allegations to BusinessInsurance.com.  

  

 

Barclays Group Chief Executive to Step Down

Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC announced that John Varley intends to step down as Group Chief Executive, and from the Barclays Boards and the Group Executive Committee, on March 31, 2011.

He will be succeeded by Robert E. Diamond Jr., who will be President and Deputy Group Chief Executive, effective October 1, 2010.   

According to the announcement, Diamond currently leads the Corporate and Investment Banking, and Barclays Wealth businesses of the Group.  He has been a member of the Board of Barclays since 2005.  

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Varley will become a senior adviser on regulatory matters to Bob Diamond and to the Board of Barclays until September 30, 2011.  

In addition, Barclays announced that Jerry del Missier and Rich Ricci, will become Co-Chief Executives of Barclays Capital, effective October 1, 2010, in addition to being Co-Chief Executives of the Corporate and Investment Bank.  

Apart from the change in Group Chief Executive, the composition and membership of the Group Executive Committee will remain unchanged, the announcement said.  

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