Baldwin Insurance Group is taking a rival brokerage to court, accusing EPIC Insurance Brokers and three former producers of orchestrating a coordinated walkout in its southwest employee benefits practice.
The lawsuit, filed on April 27, 2026 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, centers on a familiar headache for brokerage leaders - producers leaving for a competitor, and clients allegedly following close behind. Baldwin says this isn't the first time it has tangled with EPIC over a producer departure, pointing to an earlier case it brought against the same firm in Georgia federal court.
According to the filing, the three former employees worked in Baldwin's southwest employee benefits segment. Yesenia Gonzalez was a Senior Client Executive, Cody Hunter was a Partner and Producer, and Bobby Ritter was an Underwriting Practice Leader-Benefits. Baldwin says Hunter was terminated for cause on September 8, 2025, and that he then solicited Gonzalez and Ritter to follow him to EPIC. Both resigned on April 16, 2026. The plaintiff cites December 2025 calendar invites between the three as evidence of coordination.
What likely caught Baldwin's attention first, the filing suggests, was a Broker of Record letter. The brokerage alleges that shortly after Gonzalez and Ritter's resignations, at least one Restricted Customer had already moved its business to EPIC.
Baldwin also alleges that Gonzalez forwarded confidential materials from her work email to her personal account and to Ritter's personal email in the weeks leading up to her departure. The filing points to specific items, including documents on Baldwin's pay structure sent on April 13, 2023, a file titled "Monthly Report YG2 Bills" sent on March 31, 2026, a meeting invite involving a Restricted Customer and Ritter on February 17, 2026, and a "Progressive" auto policy renewal letter for a Restricted Customer sent on January 11, 2026.
The Protective Agreements signed by each of the three sit at the center of the dispute. They include 24-month non-solicitation and non-acceptance covenants tied to clients each employee serviced or supervised in the two years before leaving. They also bar facilitating "the execution of a broker of record letter" and protect a broad swath of Confidential Information, from customer lists and pricing to marketing strategies and financial forecasts.
Baldwin's claims include trade secret misappropriation under federal law, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty against Gonzalez and Ritter, conversion, a Florida computer access claim against Gonzalez, civil conspiracy, and tortious interference against EPIC. The brokerage is asking the court for an injunction, the return of confidential materials, inspection of the defendants' electronic devices, and damages.
For brokerage owners, the case is a useful prompt to revisit how restrictive covenants, BOR controls and email monitoring hold up in practice when a team starts to walk.
The allegations have not been tested in court. The defendants have not yet filed a response, and no judge has ruled on the merits.
