NEW HAVEN, Conn.—A federal court recently issued a court order in favor of wholesale insurance broker AmWINS Group Inc., which charged a former employee with using confidential client information to target and win AmWINS business accounts for his new employer, R-T Specialty L.L.C.

David B. Austin, a former employee for Charlotte, N.C.-based AmWINS, and his new employer, R-T Specialty, a division of Chicago-based Ryan Specialty Group, agreed to a court order barring their use of records of about 266 AmWINS clients for one year.

Mr. Austin and R-T Specialty have not acknowledged that they have or are using any confidential information, according to court documents.

Tim Turner, president and CEO of R-T Specialty, said AmWINS “never proved that (Mr. Austin) violated his noncompete agreement” with AmWINS, adding that Mr. Austin “lived up to his employment agreement” with the brokerage.

In its complaint, AmWINS stated the accounts Mr. Austin was targeting represented more than $10 million in premiums and $1 million in revenue for AmWINS.

The order, issued Aug. 27 by Judge Mark R. Kravitz of the U.S. District Court in Connecticut, bars Mr. Austin from directly or indirectly soliciting the named AmWINS accounts for one year. However, the order allows R-T Specialty to accept business from those accounts as long as Mr. Austin is not involved.

Mr. Austin joined AmWINS in 2005 working in the brokerage's Farmington, Conn., offices until he resigned on May 4, 2010. According to the complaint, Mr. Austin signed an agreement that he would not disclose or use any confidential information he had as an employee of AmWINS or Stewart Smith Group Inc., which was acquired by AmWINS from Willis Group Holdings Ltd. in 2005.

Mr. Austin left AmWINS for R-T Specialty, a division of newly formed insurance brokerage Ryan Specialty Group, which was founded by former Aon Corp. founder and CEO Patrick G. Ryan in December 2009.

According to court documents, AmWINS said it received notices on renewal accounts that Mr. Austin serviced advising that they would be changing their broker from AmWINS to R-T Specialty. AmWINS further alleged in its complaint that R-T Specialty was hastily hiring away talent from competitors and was disregarding employee agreements instead of building its own staff and client base.

The complaint cites Ryan Specialty's hiring of Mr. Turner, former president of wholesale brokerage CRC Insurance Services Inc., in January.

Three days after his departure from CRC, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Turner filed a lawsuit in California against CRC to void the noncompetition and nonsolicitation agreements Mr. Turner signed when he was with CRC, according to the complaint.

“R-T Specialty has only ‘expanded' by massive raids previously unparalleled in scope followed by strategic filing of lawsuits bent on voiding more than 100 employment agreements," AmWINS said in its complaint. “Members of the industry are understandably concerned that it is open season for their employees and customers.”

Mr. Turner refuted the allegations that Ryan Specialty has no regard for employment agreements and said that brokerage “respects” them.

AmWINS said it would not comment on the court order as the issue is ongoing.