Irvington insurance brokerage The Metropolitan Agency has sued a former employee for $2.6 million for allegedly steering customers to a competitor.
The lawsuit, filed May 18 in Westchester Supreme Court, accuses Alex Jelenevsky of Briarcliff Manor of conducting his own insurance business for years while employed by Metropolitan.
Metropolitan, its affiliate Metropolitan Risk Services, and their principal, Michael Stoop, “painstakingly helped Jelenevsky learn the skills he needed to be successful in the property and casualty insurance business,” the complaint states. “Jelenevsky has now repaid Metropolitan”™s efforts and investments in him with the utmost disloyalty.”
Jelenevsky”™s attorney Mitch Schuster disputed the allegations. The complaint is written in a manner to gain sympathy for Metropolitan, including a “tad of histrionics,” he said. “We look forward to litigating this in court, where it belongs, and we are confident we will be successful.”
When Metropolitan hired Jelenevsky in 2013, the complaint states, he had no clients, no insurance license, and no experience in property and casualty insurance.
Metropolitan says it paid $1,000 for an insurance class Jelenvesky needed to get his license. It gave him “warm sales leads” to pursue. It taught him how to make sales pitches. It gave him access to confidential information about clients and prospects.
He was given eight “house accounts” developed by former employees. Stoop purportedly closed Jelenevsky”™s first two sales and gave him the full commissions.
“Metropolitan gave him the knowledge, skills, tools, and confidence he needed to become a productive salesperson,” the complaint states.
Initially, Jelenevsky was paid $50,000 annually plus commissions. By 2017 he had developed a sufficient client base to put him on commissions only, the complaint states. The company says it also loaned him $30,000 last year for a down payment on a house.
Jelenevsky told Stoop in April that he was planning to leave to form his own risk management firm, according to the complaint. He continued working for the company until April 27, when he was fired.
Metropolitan claims it had discovered that Jelenevsky had deleted emails that show him soliciting clients for Hotaling Property & Casualty, a Manhattan competitor. His LinkedIn profile shows him working for Hotaling during his years with Metropolitan.
Metropolitan began receiving “broker of record” letters in which clients said they were taking their business to Hotaling, the complaint states. Clients allegedly told Metropolitan that Jelenevsky had solicited their business.
Jelenevsky identifies himself on LinkedIn as president of Navigator Risk Management, a company that does not sell insurance but helps clients navigate the insurance world.
The complaint lists Jelenevsky”™s home address as Navigator”™s address. But according to Florida business records, the company was registered in April by Robert Hotaling, the manager, at an address in Miami.
Metropolitan claims that Jelenevsky violated an employment agreement that prohibited him from disclosing confidential information. The agreement also banned him from working for a similar business or diverting customers to a competitor in Metropolitan”™s market for 11 months after leaving the company.
Metropolitan accuses Jelenevsky of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of trade secrets and tortious interference.
White Plains attorneys Kevin J. Harrington and Erin Druba represent Metropolitan.
