USI Insurance Services, one of the largest brokerages in the country, has filed suit against a former sales team leader and another powerhouse broker, Lockton, accusing them of poaching employees and harming client relationships.
Elisia Hahnenberg, who began her career at USI as an intern and rose to lead a team of account executives, breached non-compete agreements and brought three USI salespeople with her when she jumped ship to Lockton last year, the federal lawsuit contends.
“Lockton and Ms. Hahnenberg have acted in concert to unlawfully and wrongfully poach the support personnel from the (sales) team in order to cripple USI’s ability to provide services to its clients and to ultimately convince the clients to switch their employee benefits broker to Lockton,” the April 11 complaint reads.
USI, with offices in Atlanta and New York, is asking for compensatory and punitive damages, an injunction requiring that the defendants comply with employment and non-interference agreements, as well as attorney fees.
Hahnenberg and Lockton have not yet filed an answer to the complaint, filed in federal court in Atlanta.
The suit was filed one week after another major insurance broker, Brown & Brown, based in Florida, charged in a federal lawsuit that a former vice president had poached three dozen clients and created a competing insurance business.
Lockton, privately owned by the Lockton family, has offices in Atlanta and in Kansas City.
The complaint notes that Hahnenberg was hired as an intern in 2012 and later became employee benefits team leader, based in Atlanta. She oversaw nine account executives and had access to USI trade secrets and proprietary systems, the suit explains. Those systems include Omni, a platform that helps USI provide customized solutions for clients.
In May 2024, Hahnenberg submitted her resignation. Two days later, she attempted to download confidential USI files to a mobile device, the complaint alleges. A few weeks later, she started work for Lockton. USI reminded her of her employment agreement, which barred her for at least two years from inducing other USI employees to leave the company.
“USI is now in a vulnerable position with the potential for continued loss of Atlanta Account Executives and continued business harm and goodwill due to Defendants’ improper actions,” the suit reads.
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