10. Gallagher sued Alliant in poaching accusation

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. filed suit against Alliant Insurance Services Inc. and other defendants in August, charging them with conspiring with its former employees to steal confidential information and trade secrets.

The lawsuit charged that in a mass resignation coordinated by Newport Beach, California-based Alliant and other defendants, more than 10 employees left Gallagher over a span of five days without notice and immediately began working for Alliant, leading to the departure of nearly 50 Gallagher customers at the time. The story on Gallagher’s lawsuit was the 10th most read story on Business Insurance’s website in 2020.

About a month later, Gallagher again sued Alliant, this time also naming Alliant’s private-equity backer. The wide-ranging suit, filed in Delaware state court, alleged that Alliant had targeted 39 Gallagher staff and had taken on more than 80 of its clients in an illegal staff poaching scheme.

Alliant fired back days later, accusing Gallagher of “forum-shopping and judge-shopping” in the Delaware state litigation, and arguing that the case should be moved to federal court in Delaware. It also argued that its private-equity owner, Stone Point Capital LLC, should be dropped from the dispute between the brokerages.