Liberty Company CEO hits back at AssuredPartners' litigation

Liberty Company CEO and president Bill Johnson pushed back against allegations of a "raid" by AssuredPartners in its fourth lawsuit against the Florida broker, telling The Insurer that employees of the Arthur J Gallagher-owned broker chose to join Liberty due to an "unhappy environment" that reflects industry-wide sentiment after many PE-backed sales.

Gallagher and AssuredPartners did not respond to requests for comment.

In a ​lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Central California, AssuredPartners alleged that five former employees – Kevin Reed, Ramon Fuentes, Alexandra Ghica-Ochoa, Atif Awan ‌and Iris Dela Torre – used confidential company data, including trade secrets, to move clients to Liberty while still employed by AssuredPartners.

They could not be reached for comment and do not yet have counsel attached.

It is AssuredPartners’ fourth lawsuit against Liberty in the last year.

At the time of filing, AssuredPartners believes 47 employees have left for Liberty in the last nine months across Santa Maria, Bakersfield, Ventura and Newport Beach, according to court documents.

But Johnson, who ​said the suit "mischaracterizes 'poach' and raid," told The Insurer that "none of this should surprise AssuredPartners."

"Having spent years acquiring agencies, only to then sell its business for some ($13.5) billion, in order ​to generate significant returns for its private equity owners, AP should have expected that many of its employees might be unhappy and looking for ⁠exits after seeing little if any direct benefit to themselves."

PREFERRED EQUITY VERSUS COMMON EQUITY STRUCTURES

AssuredPartners was launched in 2011 with CGTR backing by former Brown & Brown executives, including Jim Henderson, who served ​as CEO from its launch until the beginning of 2021, when co-founder Tom Riley stepped in.

The company was one of the industry's most acquisitive brokers, racking up 500 acquisitions by the end ​of 2024.

In December 2024, The Insurer reported that Gallagher was planning to acquire the intermediary. The $13.5 billion deal closed in August 2025.

Johnson said that the loss of AssuredPartners' talent is an indication of an industry-wide trend of PE-backed consolidators rolling up agencies and then "flipping them to some other acquirer," with a majority of the compensation through that transaction going to the PE firm because of preferred equity structures in these deals.

"As it turns out, human beings ​don't particularly like to be rolled up and flipped," he said.

The debt-like hybrid financing method has increasingly become popular among PE-sponsors and leveraged issuers, providing investors with priority returns and liquidation ​rights over common shareholders, supplementing their operating company-level financings in leveraged transactions.

Johnson said WTW completed its $1.3 billion acquisition of Goldman Sachs-backed retail broker Newfront in January 2026 in a preferred equity structure.

"They gave equity to people ‌with some ⁠high valuation, and at the end of the day, when they sold to (WTW), Goldman Sachs made an incredible return on their investment," Johnson said.

"(But) all the common equity holders, all the people actually inside the companies, driving all the business and managing all the relationships, got pennies on the dollar for their common equity."

WTW, Newfront and Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a sea of PE-backed insurance brokers, Johnson said, unless a firm is growing by "mid to high teens organically," the common equity value is going down.

IMPLICATIONS FOR LITIGATION

AssuredPartners is not only accusing Liberty of ​a raid but is also making claims under ​the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA).

In its latest ⁠lawsuit, AssuredPartners said the forensic analysis of its former employees' electronic devices and an investigation showed that an ex-employee sent a broker-of-record (BOR) change letter to a client before resignation, and another sent pre-filled BORs to his former clients on the first day of employment at Liberty.

Johnson said the ​employees who left followed California law.

On Wednesday, a California judge in a separate case between the rival brokers denied AssuredPartners’ request for a ​temporary restraining order, where the ⁠company sought an injunction blocking defendants from soliciting or servicing clients, and mandating the return of all confidential information.

The court found that AssuredPartners did not meet the legal standard showing irreparable harm or that misappropriation of trade secrets was still ongoing.

"The individual defendants’ harvesting of client information, preresignation solicitation of clients, and false representations by Liberty-hired lawyers is a virtual carbon copy of the illegal conduct committed by several ⁠other former ​AssuredPartners (now Liberty) employees in other cases pending before this same court," AssuredPartners said in its complaint.

The litigation includes AssuredPartners ​v. Clem in December 2025, AssuredPartners v. Dan, filed in September 2025, and a companion case pending in Arizona, AssuredPartners v. Pahl, filed in December 2025.

"Liberty stands 100% behind its newest employees and will not be intimidated by AssuredPartners' threats ​and tactics – whether through litigation or otherwise - to punish AP’s former employees who dared to make the decision to leave – or to intimidate AP’s current employees from considering doing the same," Johnson said.