Atlanta-based insurance broker Beecher Carlson has filed a lawsuit against two of its former employees, claiming the pair “raided” and attempted to “sabotage” its business after secretly forming their own company while still working for Beecher Carlson.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court April 6, also alleges that Michael Stern and Mark Ouimette stole trade secrets from the broker for use in the new company, which is intended to compete directly with Beecher Carlson.
Stern and Ouimette cofounded boutique insurance brokerage Stern Risk Partners LLC last August by breaching several important employment agreements with Beecher Carlson, according to the suit, and then attempted to destroy evidence.
“Over two months after forming and starting the competing business of Stern Risk Partners LLC, Michael Stern and Mark Ouimette, on or before November 5, 2014, surreptitiously cleaned out their Beecher Carlson offices, wiped their web browser histories from company owned computers and systems, and Michael Stern factory reset and wiped the data from his company owned cell phone,” the broker said in its complaint.
The pair is also accused of attempting to recruit other former employees to join with them in their efforts.
By downloading and copying important trade secrets from Beecher Carlson, the company claims Stern and Ouimette engaged in “deliberate sabotage” of its business.
According to a report in the Atlanta Business Journal, the boutique firm has already taken at least nine customers from Beecher Carlson and, Beecher Carlson CEO J. Scott Tofil says, “caused irreparable harm” to the company.
“Customers lost in the future to Stern Risk Partners because of these or similar wrongful acts cannot be compelled to return to Beecher Carlson and therefore may be forever lost to Beecher Carlson,” Tofil said in an affidavit filed in court.
The case is Beecer Carlson Holdings and Beecher Carlson Insurance Services vs. Stern Risk Partners LLC, Michael Stern and Mark Ouimette. It is being considered by the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division.
