Dispute over $4.7 Million Returns to Nebraska Supreme Court

A multimillion-dollar dispute between an Omaha-based insurance agency and the state of Florida returned to the Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday, March 7 more than a decade after it began.

The Nebraska company, Countrywide Insurance Agency, maintains the dispute was mishandled at trial in 2006 and that it shouldn’t have to pay Florida the nearly $4.7 million a judge ordered.

Both sides of the case accused the other of using delay tactics.

“They’ve done a masterful job of dragging this out,” said attorney Robert Craig, who represents Florida.

But attorney William Gast, who represents Countrywide and its owner, David Fulkerson, has a different view.

“Indeed, it is Florida’s unlimited resources which have cruelly protracted this travesty for David Fulkerson for so long,” Gast wrote in one of his briefs.

No matter who is responsible for the delays of the case, Friday’s hearing marked the third time the state Supreme Court has heard about some aspect of it.

Florida became involved in the case because its Department of Insurance took over an insolvent Florida insurance company, United Southern Assurance Company, that had been doing business with Countrywide Truck Insurance.

Countrywide Truck Insurance and United Southern were both owned by the same parent company, Concord General Corporation. Fulkerson managed Countrywide Truck before the company’s assets were transferred over to his new company, Countrywide Insurance.

Florida maintains that Countrywide Insurance kept money that was owed to United Southern, but Countrywide and Fulkerson deny taking any money fraudulently.

Most of the money involved in the dispute came from premiums Countrywide Truck collected and was supposed to send to United Southern. But when Florida officials ordered United Southern to stop writing insurance policies in 1997, Countrywide Truck did not hand over four months of premiums.

Gast said in his brief that the missing premium money was either returned to customers or applied to new insurance policies with a different company.

The ruling that sparked this latest appeal came in August 2006. That’s when Douglas County District Judge Peter Bataillon agreed with Florida’s arguments and ordered Countrywide to repay $2.2 million in premiums that was owed to United Southern and $2.4 million in interest on the debt.

Bataillon dismissed the jury and ruled in Florida’s favor during the trial.

Gast said some of the issues in the case should have been decided by a jury because they were questions of fact.