Dellwood hits back after AIG complaint
Dellwood hits back after AIG complaint | Insurance Business America
Legal Insights
Dellwood hits back after AIG complaint
New court doc says global insurer seeks to “unreasonably restrain competition”
Legal Insights
By
Terry Gangcuangco
Dellwood Insurance Group has hit back at American International Group (AIG) following the latter’s amended complaint against the startup.
Referring to AIG’s July 10 filing, Dellwood had this to say in a new court document filed this week: “This lawsuit is the latest attempt by one of the largest insurance conglomerates in the world – AIG – to use the judicial system as a cudgel to crush a fledgling startup – Dellwood Insurance Group, LLC – and to punish Dellwood’s founder, Michael Price, and senior executives Kean Driscoll and Thomas Connolly for having the courage to go out on their own after several years of faithful service to AIG.
“While AIG frames its complaint as seeking to prevent unfair competition, its clear motive is to unreasonably restrain competition and prevent former employees from earning a living. Thankfully, the law resists such efforts. AIG’s First Amended Complaint (FAC) is not only legally insufficient but its claims are also precluded because of AIG’s own strategic maneuvering. Accordingly, the FAC should be dismissed in its entirety with prejudice.”
Last month’s amended complaint came as AIG dropped Price, Driscoll, and Connolly as individual defendants while continuing to pursue its case against Dellwood. It was argued that the individual claims were dropped to avoid delays in case the three opted to take the arbitration route.
In AIG’s new filing, it outlined how Connolly supposedly took trade secrets prior to his departure from the major insurer.
In response, Dellwood stated: “AIG fails to identify how Dellwood, as opposed to the individuals, purportedly misappropriated or used AIG’s trade secrets. AIG also fails to identify any misappropriated trade secrets with specificity, let alone identify their economic value. Instead, its description of the ‘trade secrets’ is so broad – ‘Confidential Information,’ defined as all non-public AIG information – that it fails to give Dellwood sufficient notice to mount a defense.
“To buttress those insufficient allegations, AIG points to superficial similarities between AIG’s and Dellwood’s public websites (similarities that are unsurprising given that they market some of the same products), accusing Dellwood of somehow engaging in misconduct by advertising the experience of its employees. AIG also alleges (incorrectly) that the Individuals had no prior experience in the E&S (excess and surplus) industry, such that Dellwood must have misappropriated trade secrets or it could not have launched.”
Dellwood is requesting that all counts be dismissed with prejudice.
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