More Troubles for Standridge
by November 30, 2011 5:41 pm 96 views
Steve Standridge, the former insurance agent from Mount Ida, is in more hot water.
Last week, Cornerstone Finance Co. of Columbia, Mo., sued Standridge and his former agency, Steve Standridge Insurance Inc., for fraud and defaulting on loans totaling $152,400.
Cornerstone said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Hot Springs that it handled the insurance premium financing for several of Standridge’s lumber company clients.
Cornerstone made the loans between April 2009 and February 2010. Standridge and his agency had guaranteed them and Cornerstone held the policies as collateral. The lumber companies that allegedly took out the loans and are named as defendants are Idabel Reman Inc. of Idabel, Okla.; Southeast Machine Inc. of Atoka, Okla.; and Wood Lumber Co. and Custom Lumber Work Inc., both of Camden. None of these firms could be reached for comment.
When the loans started defaulting, Cornerstone contacted the insurance companies that held the policies. Cornerstone wanted the carriers to cancel the policies so that any unearned premium would be returned to Cornerstone and applied against the balances owed on the promissory notes, the lawsuit said.
But then Cornerstone learned from the insurance companies that “no such insurance policies existed despite the contractual obligations and representations” of Standridge and the companies that borrowed the money.
Cornerstone said Standridge used “deceptive, false, unconscionable, willful, and malicious” tactics to obtain the loans, according to the lawsuit. Cornerstone wants its money back for the loans, plus at least $500,000 in damages.
Standridge didn’t immediately return a call for comment left on his cellphone.
If you recall, Standridge agreed in 2010 to have his insurance license permanently revoked instead of facing 72 counts of wrongdoing at the Arkansas Insurance Department.
Standridge once operated one of the largest insurance agencies in Arkansas with 20 offices and 178 employees. His offices since have been sold off.