NEW YORK -- Louis P. Guida, a standardbred horse owner and syndicator, has won a $1.3 million out-of-court settlement against the underwriting group of Lloyds of London, Nelson Stevenson Bloodstock Agency and the Rhulen Agency of Monticello, N.Y., it was announced Monday.
The settlement was the result of a lawsuit filed by Guida against the defendants over non-payment of fertility insurance that was taken out on the world champion, Hot Hitter, four years ago.
In 1979 Guida purchased and paid $70,000 for fertility insurance on Hot Hitter, who was to stand stud at Pine Hollow Farm in Pine Bush, N.Y. However, Hot Hitter failed the fertility test and Guida then tried to collect his payment under the policy.
He was denied settlement under a series of technicalities and provisions that attempted to render Guida's claim ineffective. Lloyds of London refused payment and offered Guida the return of his $70,000 payment. Guida refused and instituted suit in Federal Court in Newark, N.J. The trial was due to begin on Oct. 26, according to Guida's attorney, John Rizzo.
Rizzo indicated he was fully prepared for trial and the jury had been selected when, through negotiations, an offer of $1.3 million was made to Guida by the three defendants in the case.
Guida won a similar suit involving the same defendants and the same kind of insurance on another world champion pacer, Sonsam. That case was decided in Federal District Court in Philadelphia in the early part of this year and ended in an amount, including interest, of more than $350,000.
