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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
LONDON—A settlement has been reached in the case of a former Marsh Ltd. energy market broker who admitted throwing his laptop into a pond to destroy evidence that he had started working for a rival brokerage during a noncompete time period in his contract.
Units of Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. and Aon Corp. last week settled the case of Marsh Services Ltd. & Marsh Ltd. and Euan David Nicolson, Alister Gavin Laird and Aon Ltd.
As part of the settlement—terms of which were not disclosed—contempt of court proceedings against Mr. Nicolson have been withdrawn, Aon and Marsh said in a statement.
Marsh had contended that Mr. Nicolson, who left Marsh Ltd. in London in 2009 to join Aon Ltd. in London, broke the terms of a six-month period during which he was barred from working for a Marsh competitor, made false statements and breached court orders.
Marsh accused Mr. Nicolson, formerly a managing director in the brokerage's construction team, of helping Aon to bid for the business of Milan-based Saipem S.p.A., an account previously brokered by Marsh, during the six-month period.
Mr. Nicolson also was accused of breaching an October 2009 court order that he must not destroy, tamper with, cancel or part with any equipment or documents related to the case.
In a witness statement presented to the High Court in July, Mr. Nicolson admitted that he breached that order and did not tell the truth about when he disposed of a laptop computer that he used to keep in touch with five former Marsh colleagues who also joined Aon, among other things.
Mr. Nicolson admitted to throwing the laptop into a pond near his home and to disposing of memory sticks that contained personal and Marsh-related data in a river.