HELP! Bought Book & Seller is Stealing Clients!!!!!!

[Mattschmidt]

I say we egg her house!

 

[Sales71]

you can also go to the DOI web site and see if she is appointed with that insurance company and you can nail her that way as well. I think she might have signed a do not solicit form as well.

 

[bobson]

No doubt, but you're a dirtbag to sell a book of business and use it as a prospecting list. If the clients call around and switch then that's one thing, but that's not at all the nature of the deal and if the lady was an Allstate agent and sold her book, she knew exactly what she was doing and she should have her professional name dragged through the mud over it.

I'm not condoning what is happening. I've just seen it before. It will be a battle to get someone to admit she chased them down.

 

[financemama]

You know, it sickens me that people treat others this way. I would go to an attorney with your contract in hand immediately and see if you had the right wording in there to pursue legal action. Is there anywhere to file some type of complaint against this person's business practices??

 

[b61mack]

Most likely she sold because she was going broke. What kind of money did she actually get at closing. Did she owe mother company most of the money ?. Not defending her, but when you buy a book of business, make sure, They are retiring, or don't buy. i still say call her up... and comunicate. Lawyers will turn you upside down, and shake all the money out of your pockets.

 

[Guest]

is she rewriting them or has she BOR'd any of them, thats your proof right there.

 

[insurance1822]

we paid her $350k. our lawyers are saying a cease and desist really wont do much and we can only go after incurred damages (aka if we hit her now it's maybe 20 personal lines P&C policies.) we cant speculate into the future persay.....yet.....

to get the attorneys to really bite this, they want to see losses over 50k (which will eventaully happen) but we just have to wait and build a case (6 months of documented policies taken, clients taken, etc...) then we can really justify going for the big amount...

i did search her appointmetns and that's how i came across this in the first place. Otherwise...we never would have suspected it. she's 62 and we figured she was retiring (told us she might buy into a medical billing franchise...)

ultimately, when we have the 6 months documentation, we can nail her to the cross becaeuse we have a history. If we jump on her NOW....we'll get a few thousand BUT she'll just get smarter w/ her ways and hide it better.

right now, because we can easily track and document it...we're just building the case. If she gets smarter...we are screwed because it will become impossible to track.

Our attorneys assure us...sit patiently and let her hang herself out to dry. I would love to smear her BUT we all know I can't do that on a public forum. Once the case settles down the road I'll hapily post a link to the dockets.

 

[Norwayguy]

we paid her $350k. our lawyers are saying a cease and desist really wont do much and we can only go after incurred damages (aka if we hit her now it's maybe 20 personal lines P&C policies.) we cant speculate into the future persay.....yet.....

to get the attorneys to really bite this, they want to see losses over 50k (which will eventaully happen) but we just have to wait and build a case (6 months of documented policies taken, clients taken, etc...) then we can really justify going for the big amount...

i did search her appointmetns and that's how i came across this in the first place. Otherwise...we never would have suspected it. she's 62 and we figured she was retiring (told us she might buy into a medical billing franchise...)

ultimately, when we have the 6 months documentation, we can nail her to the cross becaeuse we have a history. If we jump on her NOW....we'll get a few thousand BUT she'll just get smarter w/ her ways and hide it better.

right now, because we can easily track and document it...we're just building the case. If she gets smarter...we are screwed because it will become impossible to track.

Our attorneys assure us...sit patiently and let her hang herself out to dry. I would love to smear her BUT we all know I can't do that on a public forum. Once the case settles down the road I'll hapily post a link to the dockets.

Is this advice whats best for you or for your attorney? Yes a cease and desist letter doesn't have teeth your telling her we know what your doing and if you don't stop we will come after you, however that letter may actually work and you may stop hemoraging policies. Do you really want to wait until you:

1. Have damages in excess of $50k
2. Have funded her new agency with those policies because you will not be getting them back.

If you wait then you will have paid her $400K. Thats just my $.02 I'm sure glad I am not in your shoes right now. I just think you should make sure this advice isn't whats in your attorneys best interest a cease and desist letter now will cost what like $50-100 while a lawsuit will rack up the billable hours.

 

[briko3]

Is this advice whats best for you or for your attorney? Yes a cease and desist letter doesn't have teeth your telling her we know what your doing and if you don't stop we will come after you, however that letter may actually work and you may stop hemoraging policies. Do you really want to wait until you:

1. Have damages in excess of $50k
2. Have funded her new agency with those policies because you will not be getting them back.

If you wait then you will have paid her $400K. Thats just my $.02 I'm sure glad I am not in your shoes right now. I just think you should make sure this advice isn't whats in your attorneys best interest a cease and desist letter now will cost what like $50-100 while a lawsuit will rack up the billable hours.

I was thinking the same thing. I would also add a #3: She'll have spent the money you gave her and won't be able to pay damages.

 

[insurance1822]

Fortunately the attorney is a good friend. In order for his firm to take this as a contingency (which they wont do unless they have confidence they will win) the damages have to exceed the cost of calling past clients to deposition, calling expert testimony from accountants, mother company BOB analysts, etc...

In his experience, he has explained if SHE has a good attorney (or consults one) she could (fairly easily) structure her stealing in a way that's almost legally improbably to truely fight. He explained that in his experience these sellers take calculated risks when they do this & that she has clearly & stupidly disregarded covering her tracks as best as she could...which is in our favor.

If she would have REALLY worked w/ an attorney to pull this off...she could have covered her tracks 95% (absent of the most extereme circumstances where a handful of past clients produce written solicitations)

I will keep everybody updated on how it plays out. The attorney has explained that with the documentation we were able to provide, it's a 100% slam dunk. Fortunetly for me, he has a track record of defending and also suing in this area of law.

Cease & desist now? would that stop her? ehhh...maybe...a weak maybe...

??Lose a realized amount of $5,000-$15,000 over a handful of months (which precedent suggests is enough to then win speculative damages) and slam her for a few hundred thousand? Worst case scenerio she's out legal fees in the relative amount she took...average case scenerio she settles for ALOT amongst sound legal advice OR fights it and spends EVEN MORE legal fees and risks losing the big bucks?

I have faith that I have the silent big stick.

But like many of you have said....it's just a shame. I dont even want to end up nailing her to cross and costing her THAT MUCH that the attorneys claim they will go for and confidently recover (on a contingency) because she obviously wont steal that "whole book"... (or even close)

But hey....i guess you have to act firmly to protect yourself.