Judge Allows Guarantors to Use Frozen Funds to Pay Attorney Fees

TRENTON, N.J. - A New Jersey federal judge has allowed the guarantors of a reinsurance contract to use court-frozen funds to pay attorney fees generated in a dispute with Everest National Insurance Co. Everest National Insurance Co. v. Sutton, No. 07-722 (D. N.J.).

In a Jan. 8 order, Judge Joel A. Pisano explained that before the funds were frozen, they were transferred to a trust account for the express purpose of paying legal fees.

Centrix Financial, a company owned by Robert Sutton, underwrote and serviced sub-prime automobile loans. Centrix originated the loans and placed them with third-party lenders, then serviced …