Green Tree's balance sheet "was a disaster in. According to Missouri law, a "trade secret" is information-including but not limited to-technical or nontechnical data, a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process that derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use. Chief Judge Loken did not participate in the consideration or decision of this case, Formerly known as Green Tree Financial Servicing Corporation, Conseco also employs other strategies to generate new business including internet advertising, telemarketing campaigns, "cross-marketing" of current customers, direct mail, television, radio, and yellow page advertising, and referrals from various business associates, One of North American's own witnesses admitted that North American had improperly taken Conseco's documents and repeatedly lied about it during the discovery process, His estimate was based on an average loan size in the Midwest of $85,000, The unfair competition instruction to the jury was expressly predicated on trade secret misuse, while the tortious interference claim concerned the issue of wrongful and unjustified interference with Conseco's reasonable expectation of economic advantage or benefit. As stated so eloquently-and simply-by Judge Posner of our sister circuit, "punitive damages should be proportional to the wrongfulness of the defendant's actions." In 1995 Conseco formed a new division, Conseco Global Investments, and purchased the remaining shares of CCP. This time, however, he was looking for seed capital to fund his business startup, Security National of Indiana Corp. Meridian Enters. Im going TO SAY THIS IN BIG BIG LETTERS.. __________________________________________________. At the time of trial, Dime Savings had been acquired by Washington Mutual, a company with a net worth of several times this amount, North American argues that the punitive damages were an improper remedy for its discovery abuses. 417.453(4) (1995). Therefore, Conseco established a proper misappropriation claim with regards to these fourteen loan files. Flowers & Co. LLC, Fortress Investment Group LLC and Cerberus Capital Management _ offered to buy all of Conseco Finance. Create an alert to follow a developing story, keep current on a competitor, or monitor industry news. Bhojwani is also a member of CNO's Board of Directors.[12]. He received $8.8 million in pay and exercised stock options worth almost $30 million. In 1992, just ten years after starting his business, Hilbert was one of the highest paid executives in the United States. Does Financial Buyer Mean Breakup of Conseco Finance? In 1987, it added Western National Life Insurance to its portfolio at a cost of $262 million. In some instances, the former Conseco office managers also took their staffs of loan originators with them to North American. 966, 968 (E.D. The Title Company involved (god I hope there is one involved) will pull their old deal file and figure out what went wrong. 1998). It purchased Bankers National Life Insurance Company for $118 million, respectively. From an encyclopedia salesman in eastern Indiana, Hilbert had successfully boosted his status to that of corporate multimillionaire. Conseco was incorporated in 1979, began operations in 1982 and became a public company in 1985. But when the company servicing the mortgage has been sold several times, it's hard to know where to go to demand the lien release. 1984). By his own admission, Keeler's increased compensation was due in part to his work in the company's subprime market expansion. Another cancer insurance provider, Capitol American Financial Corp., was purchased by Conseco for $696 million in March 1997. Corp., 136 F.3d 276, 286 (2d Cir. Conseco is a leading provider of financial security for life, health and retirement needs. The second, Kevin Podner, a former area manager from Conseco's office in Springfield, Illinois, testified that shortly before his resignation from Conseco, he made a copy of a substantial number of loan applications on which he had worked during his time with Conseco. Well GreenTree Financial went bankrupt and their accounts were taken over by Conseco Financial. It moved the balance of the operations from its largest purchase, Bankers National, to its ballooning Carmel headquarters. Conseco also filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction to prevent the "raiding" of its employees. Kattleman testified that he was uncertain as to exactly how the customer loan files came to be located in his office at North American. Conseco Sells Former Green Tree Finance Unit For $1 Billion, Life Health > Life Insurance > Term Insurance, March 09, 2003 at 07:00 PM The original version of this story was published on, National Underwriter Life & Health Magazine, SanctuaryWealth Picks Up $1B Advisory Team From Merrill, Friend of Warren Buffett Unpacks His Investing Wisdom, Cetera Adds Direct, Custom Indexing to Advisory Platform, 9 Trends That Sum Up the State of RIAs: Cerulli, Prudential Agrees to Group Life Claim Changes in DOL Settlement, Strong Universal Life Interest Pushes Up MIB Application Activity, 12 States Where Working-Age Death Counts Are Still High, U.S. Life Application Activity for Younger Consumers Rises. Who is the new host of Dancing with the Stars? Thus, because Conseco received a large compensatory award in this case-$3.5 million-in the "absence of extremely reprehensible conduct against the plaintiff or some special circumstance" the large exemplary award cannot stand unmodified. It's hard to . The Court, however, went on to note that " [w]hile these ratios are not binding, they are instructive. Hilbert's company acquired Consolidated National Life Insurance Co. in August 1983. As Conseco increased its value and expanded its asset base, suspicions about its performance began to wane in 1993 and 1994. We see them around but we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. The district court granted a temporary restraining order ("TRO") prohibiting these named North American employees from taking, using, or disclosing documents from Conseco's loan files, and requiring the return of any information taken from Conseco's files. However, a post-trial motion for judgment "`may not advance additional grounds that were not raised in the pre-verdict motion.'" Continued Expansion and Growth Through Acquisitions: Mid- to Late 1990s. Mill Creek is based in Salt Lake. Removing a Lien on a Bankrupt Financial Institution - The FICO Forums He also edits and writes articles for the IronSet blog where he shares his experiences. [citation needed] In 1986 Conseco acquired Lincoln Income Life Insurance Company for $29 per share or $32.3 mil. Learn more. Innovative Beginnings in the Late 1970s and Early 1980s, Stephen C. Hilbert founded the company and guided its meteoric rise. Federal law allows you to withdraw as much cash as you want from your bank accounts. Enjoy reading our tips and recommendations. Our content is intended to be used for general information purposes only. Walsh, 332 F.3d at 1159; LeSueur Creamery, Inc. v. Haskon, Inc., 660 F.2d 342, 346 n. 7 (8th Cir. 1996). Fed. On appeal, North American questions not whether Conseco proved sufficient connection of its damages to North American's alleged wrongful conduct but whether Conseco proved it had incurred damages at all. If you still seem to be getting nowhere though, perhaps a call to your local state's Attorney General might help unless you have a lawyer on retainer that could help. Conseco Finance became insolvent after it failed to make a $4.7 million payment that was due Dec. 4. We agree. What happened to Conseco Finance Servicing Corp? More details on software and accessibility are available at WebAIM.org. State Farm Mut. Satisfied with its recipe for acquiring and improving insurance companies, Conseco stepped up its acquisition efforts in 1986. Andrey knows everything from warm-up to hard workout. [4] Its insurance subsidiaries provide life insurance, annuity and supplemental health insurance products to more than four million customers in the United States. Its insurance subsidiaries provide life insurance, annuity and supplemental health insurance products to more than four million customers in the United States. Indeed, the conduct involved repeated actions in multiple offices.13 North American's actions also involved trickery and deceit, and an utter disregard for Conseco and-even more heinously-the privacy of its customers. After the jury returned a verdict against North American on each of the claims, North American filed several post-trial motions, primarily relating to the damage awards. Here are the three easy steps that you need to take: And thats it! Quick and easy. Are you wasting your Amazon Prime benefits? In 1998, Conseco bought Green Tree Financial Corp., Minneapolis, which became Conseco Finance, for $6 billion. Andrey is a coach, sports writer and editor. Mathias v. Accor Economy Lodging, Inc., 347 F.3d 672, 676 (7th Cir. R. Civ. Ark. Conseco Finance Corp. Company Profile | Saint Paul, MN | Competitors However, he speculated that as many as ten of these former Conseco customers could have switched their business to North American. Conseco Inc., Carmel, Indianapolis, has sold its finance subsidiary, Conseco Finance Corp., in a Chapter 11 sale that culminated March 5 in a winning bid of $1 billion. Wilton Re's U.S. operating company, Wilton Reassurance Company, has acquired 100% of the common stock of CLIC, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNO consisting of traditional and interest sensitive life insurance policies and deferred annuities in runoff. Sit back and relax while we do the work. 2003)). To help achieve this objective, Conseco formed a new limited partnership in early 1994, Conseco Capital Partners II, L.P. CCP II included 36 limited partners who had a combined investment potential of $5 billion to $7 billion. The ultimate product of the lead sheets-the loan file-contained financial statements, loan applications, appraisals, income calculation worksheets, W2 forms, payroll information of Conseco customers, tax returns, and bank statements of Conseco customers. The Green Tree acquisition stirred up numerous questions, including whether Conseco had too much debt and whether Green Tree, which had a past of dubious accounting practices, was growing too rapidly--25 to 30 percent a year--and providing loans to high-risk borrowers. Conseco was investing tens of millions of dollars into new entertainment-related projects late in 1993 and 1994, including some riverboat gambling proposals. By 1989, Conseco's assets were valued at $5.2 billion. After only two years of college, however, Hilbert became restless. Ins. . Merrion Group analyst David Erb said CFN may have bought a lot of Conseco's asset-backed securities, which trade at steep discounts, and may plan a controlled liquidation of the firm once it gets bankruptcy protection. 2004) (quoting Sanchez v. Puerto Rico Oil Co., 37 F.3d 712, 716 (1st Cir. By the end of the year the company's asset base had increased to $102 million. In addition, Conseco typically achieved significant efficiency gains by implementing advanced information and data processing systems. The court rejected this argument noting that this was a geographic area where everyone knows everyone else, "and you simply need to `see and ask'" to identify customers. A review of the record leaves us with no doubt that the jury had sufficient evidence before it (albeit conflicting evidence) to conclude that North American had engaged in unfair competition and caused damage to Conseco. of Mo., Inc., 162 F.3d 991, 998 (8th Cir. The company operates on the market for middle-class Americans. Conseco is a Delaware financial services company with its principal place of business in Minnesota. Consequently, we agree with the district court that the lead sheets and the information contained in Conseco's customer loan files constitute trade secrets within the meaning of the Missouri Uniform Trade Secrets Act.6. Id. Such challenges must be sufficiently specific so as to apprise the district court of the grounds relied on in support of the motion. For visitors with visual disabilities, access to this website, including our FICO Data Privacy Policy, is available through assistive technologies, such as BrowseAloud, JAWS, VoiceOver, Narrator, ChromeVox, and Window-Eyes. Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. As to the third Gore guidepost, North American concedes there is "no precise cognate in Missouri criminal law," but attempts to use the Missouri commercial bribery statute, RSMo 570.150.1(3). Conseco's mortgage service division originates residential loans for individuals in the "subprime" lending market, e.g. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1, 23-24, 111 S. Ct. 1032, 113 L. Ed. After all, a $100 investment in Conseco in 1988 would have returned $2,062 in 1993. In fact, it experienced stellar growth during 1992 and 1993. Cooper Indus., Inc. v. Leatherman Tool Group, Inc., 532 U.S. 424, 435, 121 S. Ct. 1678, 149 L. Ed. 'You have to stay where your strengths are,' acknowledged Ngaire E. Cuneo, executive vice-president of corporate development, in the October 25, 1993, issue of the Indianapolis Business Journal. St Paul, Minnesota. Hilbert, now with a few successful acquisitions under his belt, took Conseco public in 1985 in an effort to boost its investment capital. We value your privacy. The bad loans gave Conseco, the nation's largest mobile home lender, a glut of repossessed homes, leaving the parent company with a debt load that saddled its relatively healthy insurance operations with inferior credit ratings. Missouri law places no limit on punitive awards, but requires that "when punitive damages are awarded by a jury, both the trial court and the appellate court review the award to ensure that it is not an abuse of discretion." Conseco endured a string of disparaging articles in major business journals in the early 1990s that questioned its integrity. In 1997, total revenues reached $6.85 billion, a significant increase over the previous year. After the December bankruptcy filing, CFN tentatively agreed to buy all of Conseco Finance for about $850 million to $950 million. However, North American neither returned the stolen information nor discouraged its employees' use of Conseco's loan files and lead sheets. GE Consumer Finance, a unit of General Electric Company, with $77 billion in assets, is a leading provider of credit services to consumers, retailers and auto dealers in 36 countries around the world. In 1982, Hilbert acquired his first life insurance company, Executive Income Life Insurance Co., for $1.3 million. CNO Financial ranked 608 on the Fortune 1000 with 2014 revenues of $4.1 billion. The bankruptcy filing does not include Conseco's insurance operations, which regulators and the company insist are sound. There was an article in Business Insider awhile back that had this same topic. Although Conseco's rise was impressive, rampant acquisition and expansion had a downside for the holding company. Another route you can take is to reach out to the county recorder-clerk's office and ask how they deal with reconveyances for trust deeds from companies that are no longer in business. Podner further testified that in his line of work, it was very common to help new loan originators in this manner, as it is much easier to generate new business with customers who have previously conducted business with Conseco. Dec 17 2008. To meet these goals, Conseco in March agreed to acquire Green Tree Financial Corporation, a diversified financial services company that offered home equity and home improvement loans, financing packages for the purchases of recreational vehicles and equipment, and credit cards. The auction for former Green Tree Financial in St. Paul, held Tuesday in Chicago, resulted in a Wednesday morning deal, according to news reports. Conseco Finance Unit to Be Split, Sold - Midland Daily News It moved that concern's headquarters from Dallas to Carmel. Conseco stock hit a high of. CCM was managing about $19 billion worth of assets going into 1994. In 1996 the company was named to the Fortune 500, and in 1997 Conseco was added to the S & P 500 Index. We have helped over 300,000 people with their problems. After the preliminary hearing, the district court entered a narrowly-tailored injunction. San Francisco, 69 F.3d 1184, 1188 (1st Cir. The present scenario is clearly distinguishable. Conseco produced evidence that would allow a reasonable finder of fact to conclude that there was at least a threat of misappropriation of the trade secrets contained in these fourteen files. The auction also drew bids and counter-bids from a partnership of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and a consortium that included the Wall Street investment firm Bear Stearns. Conseco Finance Corp. will be split up and sold for a total of about $1 billion. It further found that Conseco was likely to succeed on its claims of misappropriation of trade secrets against North American relating to the actions of Podner and Kattleman, but not Bristol. Phone: 800-643-0202 Web: Category: Mortgage Companies Conseco Finance / GreenTree Deceptive practice / stole my home St. Paul Minnesota *Consumer Comment: Sold your house to Conseco? Lyn-Flex West, Inc. v. Dieckhaus, 24 S.W.3d 693, 697-698 (Mo.App.1999). 2001). Stephen C. Hilbert Stephen C. Hilbert, the man who founded Conseco 21 years ago and built it into a highflying insurance industry giant through a series of acquisitions, was forced to resign yesterday. You basically need to say the following to US Bank "You did our refinance back in 2003 and it was based on the existing trust deed with Greentree being paid in full and satisfied at closing, which it was paid in full and satisfied, but the company failed to record a reconveyance and that is why their trust deed still appears on our title. Before MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, RICHARD S. ARNOLD, and SMITH, Circuit Judges. The Conseco organization continued to add value to its holdings in the early 1990s and to achieve success with both CCM and CCP. In order to continue acquiring new companies, Hilbert knew that he would have to find a new source of funding that was not linked to debt-burdened Conseco. The auction for former Green Tree Financial in St. Paul, held Tuesday in Chicago, resulted in a Wednesday morning deal, according to news reports. Share & Print. Vigoro contended that the names of 200 former customers constituted a trade secret. Kimzey v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 107 F.3d 568, 576 (8th Cir. 2003). Conseco Fin. Therefore, in 1990 Hilbert organized Conseco Capital Partners (CCP), a limited partnership that included several well-financed companies. Who bought out Green Tree Financial? - IronSet Conseco looks to sell $46B mortgage subsidiary - Mar. 31, 2000 On appeal, North American offers an eloquent and persuasive argument regarding the stringent requirements relating to the calculation of lost profits, particularly in relation to "net" profits. Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to our newsletter! Throughout the 1980s Wall Street perceived Conseco as young and inexperienced. North American argues that the award is based solely on its net worth and is so excessive that it violates due process. In addition, in 1992 the company paid $15 million for a 31 percent share of Chicago-based Eagle Credit Corp., an organization formed to provide financing to Harley-Davidson dealers and their customers. Mambretti learned this fact through a phone call from a North American loan originator. Continued gains in the value of Conseco holdings combined with the success of CCP investments resulted in dynamic growth during 1990 and 1991. Conseco Risk Management acquired Wells & Company, which offered casualty and property insurance products. Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408, 419, 123 S. Ct. 1513, 155 L. Ed. Observers now say Green Tree's problems should have been obvious when Conseco, under the leadership of its co-founder Stephen Hilbert, bought it. Of course, you'll need to prove to the trustee or the mortgage company that you have paid off the loan. Conseco Announces Major Restructuring Plan - TheStreet Accordingly, North American concludes that there was insufficient evidence, absent proof of net profit, for any submissible cause of action to survive and requests that we overturn the jury verdict as a matter of law and enter judgment in North American's favor. In contrast, more than 80 percent of Conseco's portfolio comprised fixed maturities, and only two percent consisted of real estate holdings. The problem here is that after so many transfers of ownership, loan documents frequently get lost. 2 Who bought out Conseco Finance Servicing Corp? Conseco, based in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel, employs about 10,000 people and listed $52.3 billion in assets and $51.2 billion in debts in its bankruptcy filing.
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