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TAMPA — HCI Group Inc. won a breach of contract lawsuit with reinsurance intermediary giant Aon Benfield, resulting in a $744,402 judgment, the company announced Thursday.
HCI, a public company based in Tampa (symbol: HCI; recent price: $34.31), alleged Aon owed the money under a 2009 revenue sharing agreement. Benfield had employed Aon to help it obtain reinsurance coverage against catastrophic losses caused by natural disasters, including hurricanes.
“While we are pleased with the decision, we are disappointed that a simple handshake deal deteriorated to parsing contract language and arguing over legal technicalities,” says HCI Group CEO Paresh Patel, in a statement.
“This industry survives on trust," Patel says in the statement. “Aon flew in executives to make the deal. But when a disagreement arose, the executives became unavailable — even at the trial. Instead of discussing the business deal, Aon sent lawyers."
Aon has appealed the March 23 Chicago federal court judgment.
HCI is a holding company with subsidiaries engaged in property and casualty insurance, information technology, real estate and reinsurance. The company's largest subsidiary is Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Inc., which writes policies in Florida.
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