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Five Acrisure employees leave within hours, sparking dueling lawsuits - Business Insurance Skip to content Register for free Search Search Log In Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Five Acrisure employees leave within hours, sparking dueling lawsuits by Richard Sine Agents and Brokers Acrisure , EPIC Jun 26, 2026 Five Acrisure employees resigned within roughly two hours to join a rival broker Tuesday, spurring same-day rival lawsuits as each side raced to lock in their preferred venue and governing law for the dispute that has followed. Newport Beach, California-based John Jacobi, who had worked at Acrisure since it acquired his former employer, SWDS Holdings, in 2019, resigned Tuesday morning to join EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants. Later that morning, four colleagues followed him out the door, and Mr. Jacobi and EPIC filed an 88-paragraph complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Later that day, EPIC issued a press release announcing the hires , with Mr. Jacobi installed as the brokerage’s chief growth officer for finance and insurance products sold through auto dealerships, known in the industry as F&I. Mr. Jacobi’s California suit seeks to void two provisions of his 2019 Acrisure employment agreement: a clause requiring disputes to be governed by Michigan law and litigated only in Michigan courts, and a three-year non-solicitation covenant. Mr. Jacobi argues both provisions are unenforceable under California law, which generally bars employers from forcing California-based employees into out-of-state forum clauses and voids most non-compete and non-solicitation provisions for employees in the state. “This case involves Acrisure’s carefully-engineered attempt to circumvent California’s long-standing, fundamental public policy favoring open competition and employee mobility,” Mr. Jacobi’s suit says. The suit refers to several other broker poaching cases filed over the past three months in which it says Acrisure intends “to enforce these illegal contract provisions against its former employees who live and work in California.” Acrisure fired back the same day with its own complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, the forum designated in Mr. Jacobi’s employment agreement. Acrisure’s filing called the resignations a “coordinated attack” and a “highly choreographed plan,” noting that Mr. Jacobi — who earned more than $1 million in 2025, according to the complaint — was individually represented by counsel when he signed the agreement, and that he had contractually stipulated the restrictive covenants were reasonable. Acrisure alleges Mr. Jacobi breached a 45-day resignation notice requirement and helped recruit his four former colleagues to EPIC and seeks injunctions enforcing the non-solicitation covenants along with a declaration that they are valid. With near-identical claims now pending in both California and Michigan federal courts, the immediate dispute is likely to center on which court gets to decide the underlying merits and whose law applies to Mr. Jacobi’s restrictive covenants. Mr. Jacobi’s suit is named John Jacobi and Edgewood Partners Insurance Center v. Acrisure, Acrisure Protection Group, Acrisure Partner Group and Acrisure of California Partner Group . Acrisure’s suit is named Acrisure and SWDS Holdings v. John Jacobi . 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