👋 Good Morning. Happy New Year! And welcome to the 2nd edition of our Weekly Recap. The news, trends, and strategy Producers need to know (with less of the boring).

😐 Vibe Check: Brown & Brown's losing people faster than Trey's losing hair, the claims industry is bleeding jobs, and commercial insurance just posted a gargantuan underwriting gain while everyone pretends the market's still hard.

☕ Grab your coffee, hide from your crazy in-laws who haven’t left since Christmas, and let’s get started.

STORY OF THE WEEK

Brown & Brown Gets Roasted in Court by Howden

Brown & Brown thought they were suing over a pirate raid. Turns out they were just getting exposed for having a terrible corporate culture (allegedly).

Last week, Brown & Brown filed a lawsuit against Howden US claiming trade-secret theft after losing 200+ employees. They asked for a temporary restraining order to stop the bleeding.

Howden's Christmas response? A 72-page legal middle finger that basically said, "Your people left because you suck at managing them."

What Howden actually said (because it's better than we could make up):

The exodus was "caused entirely by Brown's mistreatment of people" who were "so unhappy with Brown's terrible management and poor, under-market compensation that they were prepared to leave without having secured subsequent employment."

Translation: People were willing to risk unemployment rather than stay at your company. Yikes.

Howden also claimed:

• No grand plot to steal from B&B

• Employees were told NOT to take confidential info

• Clients followed their brokers (shocker, that's how the industry works)

• Brown should fix their "governance shortcomings and problematic corporate culture" instead of suing

Jim Hays (former Brown & Brown vice chair who now works at Howden) even filed a declaration pointing out he still owns a bunch of Brown & Brown stock, so why would he intentionally tank a company he's invested in?

This is the same Howden that's being sued by Aon, Marsh, and WTW for similar reasons. They launched in August and apparently decided employee poaching was the entire business model.

What this means for you:

Good talent is moving. Fast. And when they do, clients follow. The brokerages with the best people and the least corporate BS are winning, and everyone else is filing lawsuits.

Grab your popcorn.

It’s ProducerLand’s “Must see TV”.

Read more

NEWS OF THE WEEK

• 🎲 Claims Pros Are Getting Laid Off In Droves Third quarter 2025 saw the lowest claim volume in five years (down 28.5% from 2024), mostly thanks to a quiet hurricane season. But claim severity is skyrocketing, losses are more expensive to resolve even though there are fewer of them. The fallout? Experienced adjusters, trainers, and quality control staff are getting cut. Firms are struggling to keep the lights on when storm activity drops, and AI/chatbots are eating up the simple desk adjuster work that used to train newbies. Read more

• 💰 Carriers Printed $35B in Nine-Month Underwriting Gains U.S. P&C insurers posted a $34.9 billion underwriting profit through Q3 2025 (compared to just $3.7 billion last year). The combined ratio dropped to 94.0, driven mostly by muted catastrophe losses and favorable loss reserve development. But here's the kicker: premium growth is slowing hard, down to 5.6% from last year's 10%. Personal auto and commercial multiple peril growth have collapsed. The hard market sprint is officially over. Read more

• 🎓 Brown University's Getting Investigated for Campus Security Failures After a shooting killed two students and injured nine, the Trump administration launched a Clery Act investigation into Brown's security measures. Turns out their surveillance cameras weren't working well, emergency notifications were delayed, and a custodian had reported seeing the shooter on campus a dozen times before the incident. The feds are now asking if Brown violated federal safety requirements, and their police chief just got placed on administrative leave. Read more

• 💊 Drug Prices Going Up (Again) Despite Trump's Big Talk Drugmakers are raising prices on 350+ branded medications in 2026, up from 250 last year, with a median increase around 4%. That includes COVID vaccines, cancer treatments, and shingles shots. The kicker? Some of the companies hiking prices are the same ones who just signed "deals" with Trump to lower costs on select drugs. One researcher called it "nibbling around the margins" while companies maximize prices behind the scenes. Employers should expect health plan costs to keep climbing, and employees are going to be pissed. Read more

• ⚖️ Congress Wants PBMs to Be Actual Fiduciaries Lawmakers just introduced the PBM Fiduciary Accountability Act, which would force pharmacy benefit managers to act as ERISA fiduciaries when they manage prescription drug benefits. Translation: they'd have to put plan sponsors and participants first instead of lining their own pockets with rebates and kickbacks. The three largest PBMs (OptumRx, Caremark, Express Scripts) control nearly 80% of all prescriptions, so this could be a big deal, if it actually passes. The bill's currently sitting in committee, but employer groups are cheering it on. Read more

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

$250

That's how much per month Pennsylvania lawmakers wanted employers to reimburse injured workers for medical marijuana. The bill died in committee, but it's a sign of where some states are heading with workers' comp cannabis coverage. Even though the evidence on effectiveness is still pretty thin.

PRODUCER OF THE WEEK

Raymond White

In this episode, we sit down with Raymond White, the kid phenom from Roark & Sutton. Raymond shares how he found his lane in the insurance business, the strategies he uses to differentiate himself from others in his niche, and what he'd do all over again if he had to start from scratch.

TEAM PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Ashley Addison

“Ashley jumped into our oil & gas team this year and is one of the best I’ve worked with in my career!” - Jacob Haralson, Chairman of the Board @ Ross & Yerger

TRAINING OF THE WEEK

How To Navigate Tough Renewals Without Losing Your Client

In this episode, Micah explains why tough renewals don't have to mean lost clients. He reveals how to start the renewal conversation, how to set expectations so clients don't lose their minds, and the exact communication cadence that keeps clients dialed in.

If you're a producer who wants to learn how to navigate the tricky waters of tough renewals this episode is for you.

USEFUL LINKS

📈 Insurance Xdate: free trial here

📬 Max Revenue Letter: sign up here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📒 Producer Playbook: learn more here⁠⁠⁠⁠

OPINION

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That’s this week in insurance.

Forward it to your office buddy who embarrassed himself at the company Christmas party.

See you next week.