Idaho Supreme Court Ruling Favors GGMIT 2/27/06 The Idaho Supreme Court ordered the presiding District Judge in the long running Grain Growers Trust et al. vs. Idaho Dept of Insurance/Universe Liquidator case to certify the case findings so that the Supreme Court can finally hear our appeal. The Supreme Court then denied the Department’s Motion for Reconsideration and ordered that the Trusts’ Notice of Appeal be filed by January 12, 2006, so final briefing may be scheduled. For over five years, the Idaho Department of Insurance has tied up the case in the Boise District Court on technical and procedural grounds to prevent an appeal. In June of 2000, the Idaho Department of Insurance denied payment to GGMIT policyholders for about $8.5 million in unpaid benefits on policies issued to the Trust. GGMIT then appealed the Department’s decision to the Boise-based Fourth District Court, where the case languished. In the meantime, the Idaho Department of Insurance has utilized assets from the GGMIT policyholders’ reserves to fund an outside law firm to defend their denial of benefits. The $8.5 million in policy reserves at issue were the unpaid policy benefits due to members of grain grower associations who had paid special SBA or UB health insurance premiums to Centennial Life Insurance Company and The Universe Life Insurance Company. Following a failed transaction between Centennial Life and Universal Life, approved by the Department, both insurance companies failed and became subject to liquidation, a form of bankruptcy proceedings managed by the Idaho Department of Insurance. Prior to these failures, all the grower health policies were transferred to Trustmark Insurance Company so all GGMIT insureds could receive continuous and uninterrupted medical coverage. The Trustmark coverage is still in effect today. GGMIT initiated the lawsuit against the Idaho Insurance Department, demanding the release of $8.5 million in unpaid benefits pursuant to the terms of Group Universal Health (“GUH”) policies. GGMIT is joined in this effort by several other commodity grower trusts, including the American Soybean Association Membership & Insurance Trust (“ASAMIT”) and the National Contract Poultry Growers Membership & Insurance Trust (“NCPGMIT”). Chairman of GGMIT, James ‘Mick’ Majors, states, “The Trust Boards were very involved when the GUH policies were transferred to Trustmark Insurance Company in December 1997. We made sure that every single penny of cash value in those SBA and UB accounts was paid out to the farmers. The court battle we are waging is over inappropriate surrender charges and the other unpaid benefits that have been held up by the Insurance Department." The lawsuit has been kept alive by the efforts of group trust administrator, AIA Insurance, who has helped fund the attorney fees and court costs. Attorneys for the Trusts are Greener, Banducci, Shoemaker P.A. of Boise, Idaho, and Hopkins, Roden, Crocket, Hansen & Hoopes LLP, also of Boise. The state has inside and outside lawyers, funded by the very policyholder reserves at issue. AIA President, John Taylor states, “We began this battle in the State of Kansas when Centennial Life went under in 1997. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to make things right for the growers, but the insurance departments, who approved the policies and are supposed to protect us, have flat kept the growers’ money for their own use. Now, this court may give us a chance."