Mo. Director Names Receiver for Transit Casualty

Missouri Department of Insurance Director Scott B. Lakin named Albert A. Riederer of Kansas City as the new special deputy receiver for the Transit Casualty Co. receivership. Transit Casualty—once the world’s largest insurance insolvency—is completing liquidation of its assets.

Riederer will replace Burleigh Arnold, who headed the receivership for 14 years and will retire on July 31. Cole Co. Circuit Judge Byron Kinder approved the appointment of Riederer.

Riederer, a former Jackson County prosecutor and state appellate court judge, has been MDI’s special deputy rehabilitator of General American Mutual Holding Co. (GAMHC) since Dec. 1999.

Transit’s receivership now is based in Los Angeles, but plans call for the remaining operations to soon relocate to Missouri. So far, the receivership has raised and paid off $948 million to creditors and policyholders, largely from reinsurance settlements.

Transit originated in 1945 as a St. Louis-based transportation insurer covering Bi-State Transit Agency and similar operations. After its 1964 sale to California interests, Transit adopted a sales strategy in which the insurer lost control over its potential liabilities and expanded into numerous areas of high-risk coverage, including asbestos and environmental damage, satellites and airlines. The insurer became insolvent in 1985, when the Cole County Circuit Court placed the Missouri department in charge of its affairs.

Lakin, as state director of insurance, is the statutory receiver of Transit, but appoints a special deputy to oversee and administer its daily operations. Transit is among 15 insolvent insurance companies that MDI is either liquidating or rehabilitating.

Riederer will continue to work in a dual capacity at GAMHC and Transit.

Topics Missouri Casualty