© 2017 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(Jan. 13) – A South Carolina federal judge handed Dallas-based Highpoint Risk Services and its owner Charles David Wood, Jr. a $30 million victory this week in the company’s three-year legal battle with Companion Property and Casualty Insurance, according to a lawyer involved in the case.
Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled Tuesday that “there is no evidence Highpoint owed or breached” any fiduciary duties to Companion regarding the company’s issuance of workers’ compensation policies.
The judge also ruled that Companion was contractually barred from recovering any alleged shortfall from Highpoint or Wood. Only one of the plaintiff’s claims for damages against Highpoint survived the judge’s opinion, a lawyer involved said.
The dispute began in 2014 when Highpoint, which is represented by Dallas trial lawyer Eric Haas, sued Companion for more than $38 million. The lawsuit, filed originally in Texas state court in August 2014 and then transferred to federal court in the Northern District, claims that Highpoint advanced payments to those insured by Companion in 2013 under an agreement that Companion would reimburse the Dallas company.
In September 2014, Companion countersued in federal court in South Carolina claiming that Highpoint and Wood “commingled” business and personal finances among Wood’s companies to the degree that Companion officials could not tell how much money was owed.
“The evidence is clear – Companion is obligated to pay the amounts owed to Wood’s companies,” said Haas, who is a partner at Gardner Haas. “The South Carolina court has dismissed the core of the case brought by Companion.”
Highpoint’s lawsuit against Companion is set to go to trial in November.
“An insurer cannot avoid the terms of its own policies and can’t complain when its agreements are given their clear and natural effect,” Haas said. “We look forward to successfully pursuing Highpoint’s claims against Companion at trial in the Texas action.”
The case is Companion Property and Casualty Insurance Company v. Charles David Wood Jr. et al., Case No. 3:14-cv-03719, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
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