Superintendent Of Insurance v. Bankers Life & Casualty Co.

404 U.S. 6 (1971)

Facts

Bankers Life (D) agreed to sell all of Manhattan's (P) stock to Begole for $5,000,000. Manhattan was now represented by the New York Superintendent of Insurance (P1). It was alleged that Begole with a party named Bourne conspired to pay for this stock out of P's assets. They arranged to get a $5,000,000 check from Irving Trust even though they had no funds on deposit therein. On the same day, they purchased the stock from D, they installed Sweeny as president of P and then sold a treasury bond for $4,854,552.67. That plus cash on hand in P covered the bad check. The trial court dismissed the complaint, and the Court of Appeals affirmed by a divided bench.