Vesta Insurance Group Inc. Case 06/02/1998

According to the docket, on September 30, 2002, Senior Judge Charles R. Weiner issued a Final Judgment and Order of Dismissal approving the Stipulation of Partial Settlement dated May 31, 2002. The case against the remaining defendants was dismissed with prejudice. The case is closed.

Earlier, on March 27, 2000 and January 16, 2002, certain Individual Defendants were dismissed without prejudice and with prejudice, respectively.

In a press release dated October 17, 2001, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, LLP, one of the court appointed lead counsel for the shareholder lead plaintiffs, announces $61 million recovery in connection with the settlement of a shareholder action against Vesta Insurance Group, Inc. and certain current and former officers and directors of the Company.

The original complaint charges Vesta and certain high level Company executives are charged with violating the federal securities laws by misleading investors with materially false and misleading information concerning the Company's financial condition and prospects. After the defendants had publicly represented that Vesta was a well-managed and successful company, they issued a press release announcing that Vesta was "conducting an internal investigation . . . into possible accounting irregularities". Vesta had reported a total net income of approximately $28 million, thus, the defendants' announcement meant that Vesta's earnings were less than half of what had been reported.

The trial against Torchmark was scheduled to begin on September 8, 2008 in Birmingham, Alabama. However, on the eve of trial, the parties reached an agreement to settle the case for $1,950,000.