Arthur J Gallagher poaching case reveals 'hostile, unguarded' exchanges

A court case brought by Arthur J Gallagher (AJG) against the Ardonagh group, for allegedly poaching a team of employees, has highlighted “hostile, unguarded” internal exchanges at AJG.

The case centres on the resignation of Nawaf Hasan, formerly a team member at Alesco, an AJG group company, in June 2017. Following his resignation, and that of other employees, AJG brought a claim for millions of pounds in compensation for loss of income alleging a conspiracy to poach a team of six employees. These employees included Peter Burton, Nicholas Game and Gerard Maginn and James Brewins, among others.

Court papers outlining Hasan’s side of the argument said: “The claim that Hasan participated in an unlawful conspiracy to move a team of six from AJG services to the corporate defendants [Ardonagh group’s Bishopsgate and Price Forbes] is based almost exclusively upon inference and speculation by the claimants’ witnesses.”

The defence added that the individuals in question were not part of a team and that Hasan’s resignation had been “inevitable”. It said AJG’s claims that he would have stayed at the firm for at least five years and been promoted were fanciful, particularly in light of the comments from Simon Matson, the then CEO of Alesco.

Hasan’s dissatisfaction with the employer were acknowledged in internal communications between Alesco’s senior management team. Respect for Hasan was apparently limited to the amount of income he generated as comments in the papers showed: “...after his resignation he was described by Matson in discriminatory terms as a ‘complicated fat Arab’. Matson stated that he ‘would like to lose all of [Hasan] but the money’.”

Hasan and the other former employees were repeatedly refer to as “c*unts”, “f*ckers” and “t*ssers” in the AJG internal communications.

The defence also highlighted Matson’s speculation that the exit of these employees could bring “a net financial benefit”, with Matson quoted as saying: “Chance we will lose costs and retain revenue!”.

According to the defence, costs of nearly £3 million were saved in clawed back bonuses, plus over £10 million in retention payments the employer no longer needed to make. It said there had been “no net loss” of profits for AJG.

In fact, the defence suggested the real reason for AJG pursuing this claim was to stop other employees leaving the ranks.

It pointed to a “long standing animosity against David Ross (Ardonagh group CEO] for leaving AJG (after 25 years) in 2015”, adding that the claimants documents are “littered with references to ‘going to war with Ross’, ‘burn[ing] all the f*ckers”, “[wiping] Bishopsgate out entirely” and "treacherous c*nts". In the papers Matson is shown to say: “They are messing with the wrong boys.”

In response, AJG reportedly described claims made by the defence as a “blatant…attempt to distract”.

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