Marsh USA has filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York, accusing Aon Risk Services Companies of orchestrating the mass departure of key personnel from its construction surety practice, including senior leadership.

According to the complaint, Aon initially targeted Robert McDonough (pictured above), then head of Marsh’s construction practice, before using his insider knowledge – such as confidential information and compensation data – to identify and recruit additional team members.

Marsh alleges that McDonough played a central role in the plan, which ultimately led to the resignation of 20 Marsh employees within a 38-minute window on March 10.

Marsh also claims Aon pursued this recruitment effort after facing a loss of its own surety team to a competing firm.

Rather than rebuilding internally, Marsh alleges Aon “opted for a quicker, unlawful fix: simply pluck a significant portion of Marsh’s construction surety business unit to fill its need, in violation of Marsh’s legal rights.”

The lawsuit further asserts that one of the departing employees acknowledged McDonough’s involvement in coordinating the departures, saying that McDonough selected the top 20 team members to leave and gave a choice between accepting “life-changing money” or remaining behind.

Marsh also accuses Aon, McDonough, and other former employees of using confidential information to solicit clients. The complaint notes that the day after the mass resignation, a long-standing Marsh client informed the company it would move its business to Aon, naming McDonough as its primary contact. Additional clients have reportedly followed.

McDonough is also alleged to have violated multiple agreements with Marsh, including confidentiality and non-solicitation clauses, along with supplemental employment terms. The complaint also accuses him of using proprietary information to disrupt Marsh’s own recruitment efforts.

In one instance, Marsh had scheduled a meeting between McDonough and a candidate from Aon, but McDonough left the company three days before the meeting and allegedly disclosed the recruitment plans to Aon.

Last year, it was Aon on the other side of the court, naming 11 defendants – including global broker Howden – over poaching “raids” amid the latter’s “unlawful recruitment” scandal.

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