US-based Liberty Mutual Group's civil complaint against nine former employees and Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance for allegedly conspiring to steal its professional liability business has been dropped.

The plaintiffs and defendants filed a joint stipulation "that this action is discontinued with prejudice" at New York State Supreme Court on March 26 – less than two months after the complaint was filed on February 1, the OffshoreAlert online newsletter reported.

Each party will bear its own costs. In its complaint, Liberty Mutual had stated: "Rather than build its own infrastructure through legal means, Aspen pilfered that necessary infrastructure from Liberty, its competitor, by inducing Liberty's employees to breach their duty of loyalty by, among other things, taking with them Liberty's confidential proprietary information and trade secrets." Aspen denied the allegations.