Landmark court victory for Marsh & McLennan

A New York federal judge, Garrett E Brown, has dismissed a
multi-district class action brought by three dozen commercial lines
clients against US insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Companies
(Marsh) and dozens of other insurance brokers and carriers about 20
other industry participants alleging that the brokers conspired to
allocate clients, fix prices and restrain trade. The lawsuit also
accused Marsh of violating the Racketeering Influence and Corrupt
Organizations (RICO) Act.

The class action was brought by clients who had opted not to be
included in an $850 million settlement paid by Marsh in 2005. The
2005 settlement, which benefited about 70,000 Marsh clients, formed
part of an agreement reached with then New York Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer, who in 2004 had accused Marsh of secretly colluding
with insurers to fix prices and feed business to those that paid
contingent commissions.

In his judgment, Brown wrote: “Plaintiffs have not shown that the
insurer defendants colluded among themselves in the broker-centred
conspiracies, and thus it is improbable that they colluded to
further this global agreement as well.”

A decision in the RICO portion of the suit is still pending, said
Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the legal firm representing
Marsh.

In a statement released after the court’s decision, Marsh said: “We
are very pleased that the federal court has dismissed, with
prejudice, all of the federal antitrust and RICO claims asserted
against Marsh and other industry participants. This decision
represents a major step forward for Marsh.”

Marsh, the world’s largest insurance broker, employs about 54,000
people worldwide and generates revenue of about $11 billion
annually.