IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
San Bernardino County has won a lengthy legal battle with one of its insurers.
The California State Association of Counties Excess Insurance Authority has paid the county $14 million, which will cover part of a $102 million settlement the county reached in 2006 with an Inland developer, according to a report in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
The association agreed to abandon its appeal of the judgment awarded the county and agreed to make the payment in order to settle the case, ending a nearly decade-long dispute regarding whether the insurance carrier was obligated to make the payment.
The settlement, with Colonies Partners in Rancho Cucamonga, led to the indictment of three former county officials and one member of Colonies Partners. Prosecutors allege that campaign contributions made to political action committees connected with three supervisors who approved the settlement were bribes.
San Bernardino County has now collected $23.5 million from various insurers in connection with the Colonies settlement, the report stated.
Developer Jeff Burum, a co-managing partner with Colonies Partners, has been charged with paying $400,000 in bribes to three former county officials in order to bring about the $102 million settlement.
Colonies Partners and the county spent five years battling over who was responsible for flood control improvements at the Colonies at San Antonio housing development and Colonies Crossroads shopping center in Upland, both of which were developed by Colonies Partners.
The settlement ended that dispute, the report stated.
