Nebraska Man Accused of Selling Insurance in Violation of Court Order

A 67-year-old Lincoln man was arrested and accused of violating a judge’s order about selling insurance to former customers.

Larry Hall faced Judge Paul Merritt in court on April 16, according to the Lincoln Journal Star Merritt told Hall he’d remain in jail until he returned nearly $1,000 in commissions for insurance sales to some of those customers.

Hall’s attorney, Rick Boucher, told the Journal Star that Hall would be repaying the commissions.

The legal case stems from 2007, when Hall sold his Associated Insurance Managers agency to McCashland-Kirby Insurance Agency and agreed to a clause that barred him from selling to former customers for four years.

In February 2009, Hall announced he was terminating the contract with McCashland-Kirby. Online court records say Hall had formed a new agency called AIM Insurance, which echoed the name of the agency he’d sold to McCashland-Kirby. He also began using his original logo, website and email and, the court records say, started using a list of nearly 800 customers he’d included in the original sale.

McCashland-Kirby sued Hall in April 2009. A few months later, Merritt temporarily ordered Hall not to sell to those customers and not to use any company name similar to Associated Insurance Managers or AIM.

Merritt made that order permanent this past December. He also ordered Hall and his daughter, who had sold insurance with him, to repay McCashland-Kirby more than $55,000 and legal fees.

About two weeks ago, McCashland-Kirby submitted evidence to the court that Hall had been doing business with old customers. Merritt soon issued a bench warrant for Hall’s arrest.

Hall maintained that he is not in contempt of court.

“I haven’t written any of those customers since late 2010,” Hall said.

Hall is running for re-election to the board of the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District.