A newly filed lawsuit claims a former Jencap Insurance Services executive led his team to competitor Burns & Wilcox, taking confidential business information and clients.
On August 27, 2025, Jencap Insurance Services, Inc. filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The complaint alleges that Taras Shalay, who served as Senior Vice President and held himself out as Managing Director - Midwest Region, resigned from Jencap on June 19, 2025, along with his team, to join Burns & Wilcox, Ltd. (“B & W”), a direct competitor with reported annual revenues of $3.6 billion in 2023.
According to the complaint, Shalay and his subordinates, all of whom had previously worked at Burns & Wilcox before joining Jencap, coordinated their resignations and returned to B & W. Jencap alleges that Shalay encouraged and directed his team to leave, and that this move involved the misappropriation of Jencap’s trade secrets and confidential information. The complaint states that several staff-level employees were also induced to join B & W and to solicit Jencap’s clients to move their business, all in breach of contractual and common law duties owed to Jencap.
Jencap describes itself as a business offering wholesale insurance brokerage services and program and specialty insurance business for a wide range of industries across the United States. The company acts as an intermediary between retail brokers and agents and insurance carriers to procure specialized and difficult-to-place insurance policies and programs. Jencap asserts that it rigorously screens and trains its producers, who are responsible for marketing its relationships with insurance companies and servicing client accounts.
The complaint states that Shalay, as senior vice president and managing director - Midwest region, had access to Jencap’s confidential strategic growth plans, business opportunities, and proprietary information. Employment agreements signed by Shalay and his team included confidentiality, non-solicitation, and corporate opportunity restrictive covenants. These agreements, according to Jencap, prohibited improper use or disclosure of Jencap’s confidential and proprietary information, and barred solicitation of Jencap’s clients and employees for two years following employment.
Jencap alleges that, between June 14 and June 18, 2025, members of Shalay’s team - at his urging -sent Jencap’s trade secrets and confidential information to their personal email addresses. The complaint lists specific examples, including client and market contact lists, spreadsheets containing market research and analysis, and internal workflows for servicing clients. Jencap claims this information is competitively valuable and not available to the public.
The complaint further alleges that, as a result of these actions, several significant Jencap clients with whom the producers had material contact have issued “Broker of Record” change letters or informed Jencap they are moving their business to B & W.
Jencap seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief restraining Shalay and those acting in concert with him - including B & W, Bridges, Grumski, Hayden, and staff employees - from soliciting Jencap’s clients and employees, using or disclosing Jencap’s confidential information, and disrupting Jencap’s business relationships. The company also seeks damages for actual losses, exemplary damages, and other relief as the court deems just and equitable.
These are allegations made in a filed complaint, and no court has ruled on the merits of the case. The outcome remains pending, but the dispute highlights the competitive dynamics and the importance of confidential information in the US wholesale insurance market.
