NC Appeals Court Gives Green Light to Liquidation of Lindberg Insurance Firms

Former North Carolina insurance and business mogul Greg Lindberg has lost an appeal on whether one of his companies can delay the liquidation of two of his troubled life insurance carriers.

North Carolina Insurance Mike Causey said the March 5 opinion by the North Carolina Court of Appeals was the correct one and will likely allow state insurance guaranty associations to begin paying claims to policyholders of Lindberg’s Bankers Life Insurance Co. and Colorado Bankers Life Insurance Co. The appeals court upheld a Wake County Superior Court judge’s decision.

“As it stands today, the liquidation order will become effective June 30, 2024. On that date, the various state guaranty associations will begin the process of paying policyholder claims,” Causey said in a statement Tuesday.

“Of course, Mr. Lindberg can try to push that date back by continuing to pursue meritless appeals,” Causey added. “My sincere hope is that he does not, and finally ends this nightmare that he created for policyholders.”

Lindberg said in an emailed statement Tuesday that his team is evaluating its options.

“We have had multiple offers to purchase these companies for hundreds of millions of dollars,” Lindberg said. “All the NCDOI has to do is approve one of these offers and the companies can be sold and policyholders can access their full policy benefits.” See related article on possible buyer.

The appeals court ruling is the latest in multiple civil and criminal cases that Lindberg, once considered a wealthy business entrepreneur and top campaign donor to Republicans and Democrats alike, has been enmeshed in for the last few years. Causey moved in 2021 to liquidate the two life insurance companies, contending that they were deep in debt and could not pay policyholders.

The appeals court explained that in late 2022, the liabilities for Bankers Life had exceeded its assets by more than $91 million.

But Lindberg’s attorneys objected to the liquidation petition, asking for a delay and arguing that GBIG Holdings, a Lindberg investment firm, was the parent company and should be allowed to intervene. Causey countered that GBIG lacked standing to object. The trial court sided with Lindberg on that point but denied GBIG’s motion to continue the proceedings at a later date.

The appellate court decided that GBIG should not have been allowed to intervene, but that the trial court did not err when it denied GBIG’s motion to continue and it ordered BLIC and CBLIC into liquidation.

The three-judge appeals court panel noted that state law allows only the directors of companies to intervene in liquidation proceedings. The statute supplants the court’s normal Rules of Civil Procedure.

“Where GBIG is not a director of either BLIC or CBLIC, non-party GBIG did not have standing to intervene, nor should it have been allowed to intervene in the liquidation proceeding simply because the trial court previously exercised its broad discretionary power to allow it to intervene” in the liquidation of another Lindberg insurance company, Southland National Insurance Corp., the appeals court wrote.

Judge Julee Flood, writing for the court panel, also said that GBIG had waited a while before filing a motion to delay the liquidation, then complained that it did not have a chance to defend against the proceedings.

“GBIG’s argument that the denial of its motion to continue prevented it from having a meaningful opportunity to defend against liquidation is disingenuous, given both BLIC and CBLIC had been making detailed quarterly disclosures since being placed in rehabilitation,” the judge wrote, calling GBIG’s delay self-imposed.

Lindberg’s insurance empire began to falter around 2019, after regulators charged that Lindberg and associates had diverted millions of dollars from his insurance companies, investing the money in his other businesses. Lindberg has argued that his actions were not illegal and were part of novel but complex business moves.

In 2020, Lindberg was convicted of attempting to bribe Commissioner Causey in return for relaxed regulations, including lower reserve levels held by his insurance firms. His conviction was overturned in 2022 due to what a federal appeals court said was faulty jury instructions.

His second trial is set to begin May 6.

Related: Alabama Supreme Court Orders Lindberg and Company to Pay $11M Note to Med Firm

Topics North Carolina