English court has jurisdiction for Aon-Howden Brazil poaching dispute

High Court rejects Howden’s argument for Brazil jurisdiction

Court stays claim against Antonio Jorge Rodrigues; says Aon could sue in Brazil Labor Court

Howden previously settled poaching dispute with Guy Carpenter for $70 million

By Michael Jones

March 21 -

(The Insurer) - London’s High Court has said that the English courts will have jurisdiction in Aon’s multimillion-pound poaching dispute with Howden over the hire of an Antonio Jorge Rodrigues-led reinsurance team.

Howden argued in

June 2024

that the element of the dispute related to the Brazilian reinsurance team should be handled in Brazil.

The broker’s legal representative David Craig KC said in a separate October hearing that even if the plan was directed from the UK, any loss to Aon happened in Brazil.

Aon said that Howden had failed to identity a single Brazilian forum that could consider the relevant allegations and hear relevant witnesses. It argued that it would obstruct the interests of justice if the investigation could not access all relevant facts, witnesses and documents.

The High Court rejected Howden’s argument. On March 14, Master John Dagnall held that the majority of the alleged wrongdoing is connected to England given that Aon accused Howden executives in London of acting as “puppet masters” to induce the poaching of Aon employees.

Master Dagnall said the conduct Aon has accused Howden’s UK business of undertaking makes it an anchor to keep all claims within the jurisdiction.

“It does seem to me that, unless all matters were in England, this possibility of irreconcilable judgments is inevitable,” Master Dagnall said.

Aon has accused Howden and certain of its executives of unlawfully conspiring to poach its employees and clients.

It said this resulted in mass resignations from its London cyber business in April 2023, and from its Brazilian reinsurance team in November 2023.

The suit initially named nine other defendants in addition to Howden, Foord-Kelcey and Rodrigues.

These included Elliot Richardson, the vice chair of Howden Tiger (since rebranded as Howden Re), Howden executive Massimo Reina and chief financial officer for specialty and reinsurance Ahmed Farooq.

On March 14, the High Court ordered the case to be stayed against Rodrigues as Master Dagnall said there was no real commercial need for Aon to sue him. The judge said if Aon wished to, it could sue in Brazil’s Labor Court.

In October 2023, Howden Re settled a poaching dispute

with Guy Carpenter

for $70 million, thought to be the largest ever (re) insurance settlement for a team move.

In a statement at the time, Howden conceded it had engaged in “unlawful recruitment” from Guy Carpenter and issued an apology on behalf of “certain of its executive officers”, including Reina and Richardson.

In June 2023, Aon and Howden settled a

separate poaching dispute over the latter’s recruitment of a six-strong former Aon UK PFI team.

Aon and Howden declined to comment