A Texas court has approved the sale of a majority of the NPS preneed business to a Texas insurance company and its subsidiary. As we reported a few weeks ago, Liberty Bankers Life Insurance and Capitol Life Insurance Company will assume the NPS preneed business written in Missouri and Illinois as of November 1st.
NPS/Lincoln
The New Owner of NPS: Liberty Banker Life
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in NPS/Lincoln
The Special Deputy Receiver over National Prearranged Services recently filed an application to assign a significant portion of the NPS preneed contracts to Liberty Bankers Life Insurance, and a subsidiary, Capitol Life Insurance Company. If approved by the court, the NPS contracts will transfer on November 1st. Preneed contracts sold in Missouri and…
The NPS Appeals Opinion: What does it mean for Preneed Fiduciaries?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Missouri - SB1, NPS/Lincoln
In an opinion issued last week, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down key NPS trial rulings that resulted in a $491 million jury verdict against PNC Bank (as the successor to Allegiant Bank). The appeals opinion states that the trial court erred when it allowed the NPS receiver to argue tort based claims…
A Cassity Update: Doug’s Request for a Compassionate Release
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in NPS/Lincoln, Uncategorized
Prison life has been hard on Doug Cassity. The de facto executive officer of National Prearranged Services was sentenced to 10 years in Federal prison for his role in the preneed fraud that involved hundreds of millions of consumer funds. With about 6 years remaining on his sentence, Mr. Cassity has requested a release from…
Missouri HB 1062: A Super Trust for the NPS Recovery
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Legislation, NPS/Lincoln
It has been almost 2 years to the date when a $391 million dollar judgment was entered against PNC Bank, as the successor to Allegiant Bank. Allegiant Bank was one of the last trustees to administer National Prearranged Services’ preneed trusts in Missouri. PNC Bank appealed that judgment, and a decision is expected any day…
The High Cost of Litigation: Copy Charges
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in NPS/Lincoln
The Special Deputy Receiver for National Prearranged Services recently filed a Bill of Costs with the Federal trial court. The Bill of Costs seeks to recover copy charges of more than $500,000 from a former NPS trustee. Those costs do not include attorneys’ fees. Litigation can be very costly.
Missouri’s preneed regulators are keenly aware…
NPS’ Legacy of Damages: No One Knows How Deep the Waters Were
By Bill Stalter on
When NPS first collapsed, the estimate of the company’s liabilities to funeral homes was reported to have been as much as a billion dollars. When the SDR finally brought the case to trial, the damages awarded by the jury were less than half of the original estimate. While this author believes the actual damages are…
NPS Trustees: Standard of Care for Investments
By Bill Stalter on
Now that a judgment has been rendered against Allegiant Bank, the NPS litigation will move on to the appeal stage where the focus will be on R.S.Mo. Section 436.031. The NPS trustees universally argued that this provision of the Missouri preneed statute relieved them of all responsibility and liability for investment supervision. As set out…
NPS Trustees: Standard of Care for Preneed Administration
By Bill Stalter on
Final arguments were heard in the NPS civil trial this past Friday. With the SDR having presented evidence through the prior Friday, the defendant trustees presented their case in less than a week. This may reflect that the NPS trustees had viewed their duties as having been defined by Chapter 436 as relatively low. As…
NPS Trustees: Pre-acceptance Due Diligence
By Bill Stalter on
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the OCC) supervises the fiduciary activities of national chartered banks, and in February, updated the guidelines used by its examiners. The “Personal Fiduciary Activities” booklet includes a section on pre-acceptance due diligence that fiduciaries should conduct before agreeing to serve as trustee for an account. …