Aegis General Insurance is facing a lawsuit from Millennial Specialty Insurance and The Baldwin Group Colleague, who claim their rival poached four top executives and key trade secrets to launch a lookalike insurance program.
Filed on August 8, 2025, in the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the complaint lays out a scenario that will sound familiar to many in the insurance sector. Millennial alleges that four of its senior Scale Underwriting employees - Jeffrey Hirsch, Matthew McKenna, Juliana Rosas Litourgis, and Leanna Marciano - resigned together in June 2024 and joined Aegis General Insurance Agency, a subsidiary of K2 Insurance Services. According to Millennial, these departures were not just routine turnover, but a coordinated move that gave Aegis a shortcut into the specialty insurance market.
The complaint describes Hirsch as Scale’s managing director, Rosas as senior director of underwriting, McKenna as vice president of underwriting, and Marciano as a senior underwriter and team lead. Millennial says all four had signed agreements that barred them from taking confidential information or soliciting colleagues and clients after leaving. The company claims these agreements were breached when the group allegedly took confidential business information - including client lists, underwriting guidelines, financial reports, and policy forms - to Aegis.
Millennial’s complaint details how, after the resignations, the company’s leadership immediately demanded the return of company laptops and sent out letters reminding the former employees of their obligations to preserve evidence. The complaint alleges that these instructions were ignored. Instead, Millennial claims, Marciano and Rosas wiped their laptops clean just days after receiving the notices, McKenna deleted a folder containing confidential information from his personal Dropbox account, and Hirsch’s laptop was left password-protected, with Hirsch claiming he did not recall the password. Digital forensics experts from Alvarez & Marsal were brought in, but the complaint says most of the data was unrecoverable.
The lawsuit also claims that Aegis and K2 Insurance Services negotiated with the former employees over several months, and that the group was hired to help Aegis launch a new line of insurance products directly competing with Millennial’s offerings. According to the complaint, Aegis announced the launch of a new management liability insurance program in November 2024, offering coverage for executives, directors, officers, and business entities - products similar to those previously offered by Millennial.
Millennial alleges that, prior to hiring these employees, neither Aegis nor K2 offered directors and officers (D&O) or employment practices liability (EPLI) insurance. The complaint further claims that Aegis used Millennial’s confidential information and even some of the same reinsurance brokers and syndicate panels to quickly establish its new program. Millennial says it lost two key reinsurers during the renewal cycle for 2025 to 2026, with at least one allegedly terminating its relationship with Millennial to enter into a similar arrangement with Aegis.
The complaint brings several claims, including violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act, violation of the Pennsylvania Uniform Trade Secrets Act, tortious interference with contract, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment. Millennial is seeking monetary damages, injunctive relief, and punitive damages, arguing that Aegis’s conduct was willful and malicious.
It’s important to note that these are allegations made by Millennial and The Baldwin Group Colleague in their complaint. The case is newly filed, and Aegis has not yet had its day in court. No decision has been made, and all claims remain unproven at this stage.
For insurance professionals, this case is a timely reminder of the risks and realities of executive movement and competition in the specialty market. As the legal process unfolds, the industry will be watching closely to see what the court decides and what it could mean for how companies protect their talent and trade secrets.
