International Insurance Brokers Sues Team Bank, Mystic Capital

International Insurance Brokers Ltd., headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., announced it has filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma against TeamBank N.A., Team Financial Inc. and Mystic Capital Advisors Group LLC claiming damages for conspiracy, fraud, misrepresentation and breach of contract.

Also named in the suit were Robert J. Weatherbie, chairman of the board of directors of Team Financial Inc. and the president of TeamBank N.A.; Michael L. Gibson, chief financial officer of Team Financial Group and TeamBank N.A.; and Kevin Donoghue, a principal in Mystic Capital Advisors.

IIB alleges that Team breached representations, warranties and indemnifications made in connection with the February 2005 purchase of Team Insurance Group Inc. by IIB. The complaint states that all of the defendants participated in defrauding IIB in connection with the acquisition by making representations and warranties to IIB that they knew were false. According to Matthew F. Coughlin, III, managing partner, IIB intends to recover damages, which total in excess of $20 million.

In a Feb. 9 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission reporting its Dec. 31, 2006, results, Team Bank said it believes the claims made by IIB in the lawsuit “are totally without merit, and it will pursue a vigorous defense as well as pursue available counterclaims against the plaintiff.”

In an e-mailed response to Insurance Journal, Mystic Capital’s Kevin Donoghue said, “In response to [the] press release by International Insurance Brokers, Ltd regarding an alleged suit against Mystic Capital Advisors Group LLC, Mystic Capital cannot fully comment as we have not received a suit. However, Mystic Capital proudly and wholeheartedly stands behind its company’s ethics, professionalism, consultations and work products for not just the engagement referenced in today’s article, but for all of the firm’s engagements.”

In the announcement, IIB’s Coughlin stated his company intends “to vigorously pursue and fully recover the damages Team and its officers caused IIB.”

Established in 2003, IIB is a national professional services firm providing insurance brokerage and related risk management services for property and casualty insurance, employee benefits programs, life insurance, executive compensation programs and personal insurances. The firm is headquartered in Tulsa and services both companies and individuals.

Team Financial Inc. operates in the Kansas City metropolitan area, southeastern Kansas, western Missouri, the Omaha, Neb., metropolitan area, and in the Colorado Springs, Colo., metropolitan area.