Agreement Unclear Whether Aon Owes Insurer Annual Fee, Judge Rules

CHICAGO — A revenue sharing agreement between an insurer and reinsurance broker Aon Benfield Inc. is unclear whether the broker must pay an "annual fee" to the insurer if it is replaced by another broker at the end of the agreement year, an Illinois federal judge has ruled.

On Sept. 10, Judge Harry D. Leinenweber of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied the parties’ motions for summary judgment, finding that the term “subject business” as it is used in the agreement could either refer to all of the reinsurance contracts placed, including those after the …