AssuredPartners denied TRO in dispute over Epic’s hire of St. Louis-based trio

By Michael Loney

March 14 - (The Insurer) – A Missouri district court judge has denied AssuredPartners’ motion for a temporary restraining order against Epic Insurance Brokers & Consultants and three St. Louis-based professionals, in an order stating the plaintiff failed to show irreparable harm.

Epic in early December announced the addition of Rick Frechmann as managing principal, and Joleen Mayfield and Bradley Snitzer as principals, with all three joining from rival broker AssuredPartners.

San Francisco-headquartered Epic stated the trio “bring decades of experience in employee benefits consulting and property and casualty sectors including manufacturing, retail, distribution, and construction”, and would expand its presence in the St. Louis area.

AssuredPartners sued Epic, Frechmann, Mayfield and Snitzer in the Eastern District of Missouri on December 20.

The complaint alleged breach of contract, tortious interference with contractual and prospective contractual relations, misappropriation of trade secrets, violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act, unjust enrichment and breach of the duty of loyalty.

AssuredPartners filed a motion for a TRO on February 24, which was denied by Judge Sarah Pitlyk in an order filed on March 10.

“AP’s failure to show irreparable harm is, by itself, a sufficient basis to deny the requested injunctive relief,” the order said.

The individual defendants signed restrictive covenant agreements with AssuredPartners in which they promised to comply with certain restrictions related to the retention, use, and disclosure of confidential information.

The RCAs also prohibit them during their employment and for a period of two years following their employment from soliciting, servicing or interfering with any of AssuredPartners’ restricted clients.

The judge’s order stated that Tabbatha Sipes, area president of AssuredPartners of Missouri, in November learned the individual defendants were discussing resigning from AssuredPartners and joining Epic.

“On November 14, 2024, AP summoned Frechmann, Mayfield, and Snitzer to a conference room and informed them that their employment was suspended immediately pending further investigation,” it said.

The order also noted that during an investigation AssuredPartners found that between May 1, 2024, and November 12, 2024, Mayfield printed approximately 10,846 pages of information from the broker’s systems, including information about client accounts and lists of clients and prospective clients.

According to the order, AssuredPartners on November 26 terminated the individual defendants.

The order noted clients that have moved from AssuredPartners to Epic since November include Ernst Radiology, Lander Binding and Finishing, APX and Delmar Financial.

The judge said that to warrant extraordinary injunctive relief AssuredPartners must explain how the defendants’ alleged actions are likely to cause irreparable harm to its reputation or goodwill, and not just monetary harm.

“Plaintiff has presented the court with nothing more than speculative and conclusory allegations to that effect,” the order said.

It added: “While in some instances lost customers could constitute irreparable harm to reputation and goodwill, plaintiff has not shown how that is the case here. The court will not presume that a handful of clients moving to a competitor will result in irreparable harm to AP’s goodwill and reputation without a more adequate basis for so concluding.”

AssuredPartners also asserted that it expects more lost customers and lost profits if the defendants are not enjoined, and claimed its harms will be too difficult to quantify.

“The court finds neither of those arguments persuasive,” the order said.

AssuredPartners, Epic and the law firm representing Frechmann, Mayfield and Snitzer had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.