USI Sues Former Aviation Broker, Alleging She Steered Charter Client to Howden While Still Employed

USI Insurance has sued veteran aviation insurance broker Lauren Hanes, alleging she solicited a charter-airline client and shared confidential information with competitor Howden while still employed by USI. The complaint was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta.

Hanes, who is based in McDonough, Georgia, spent almost 20 years as an aviation account executive at Wells Fargo Insurance Services and then at USI, which bought the Wells Fargo unit in 2017. She signed an agreement barring her for two years from soliciting clients she serviced and for five years from using confidential information. On March 13, Hanes, practice leader James Van Meter and others resigned from USI to join Howden. USI alleges that on the previous day, while still on its payroll, Hanes called a Nashville charter company and said the entire aviation team was moving to Howden. The charter company submitted a letter the next day signaling its intent to switch brokers, and USI also alleges Hanes gave a Howden managing director contacts at the client. USI describes aviation brokerage as highly technical, spanning hull, liability and hangar-keepers coverage across multiple carriers, so a client typically changes brokers only after groundwork is laid.

London-based Howden launched its new U.S. aviation practice in May. The brokerage has lured hundreds of employees from rivals since entering the U.S. market last year, spurring suits from Marsh, Willis, Aon, Brown & Brown and Alliant. In May, it faced a similar suit over its new yacht team. USI has also sued Van Meter separately in Atlanta. In a response to the suit, Van Meter disputed that he coordinated with Howden before resigning or that he shared confidential information, and said USI's restrictive covenants were unenforceable.