General Reinsurance Corp. Wins Preliminary Injunction in Trade Secrets Dispute

Cravath represented General Reinsurance Corp. (“Gen Re”) as plaintiff in an action against, inter alia, Arch Reinsurance Company (“Arch Re”) and four former Gen Re senior managers who had been in charge of all aspects of Gen Re’s Property Facultative Group’s North American Operations. In April 2007, the senior managers resigned to join Arch Re Facultative Underwriters, Inc., a newly formed subsidiary, and were followed by 26 other Gen Re employees, none of whom had noncompete agreements with Gen Re. Prior to hiring Gen Re’s senior managers, Arch Re had not offered property facultative reinsurance. Gen Re alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of Gen Re’s trade secrets and violation of Connecticut’s fair trade practices laws. In October 2007, following an evidentiary hearing, the court concluded that the defendants had misappropriated Gen Re’s trade secrets, and granted Gen Re a preliminary injunction preventing the defendants from disclosing, divulging or further using any of Gen Re’s trade secrets. The case subsequently settled.