Court Says Conseco Must Pay $27 Million

Conseco Inc. was dealt another blow when a court upheld an arbitrator’s order that it pay nearly $27 million for violations of consumer protection laws by a company Conseco acquired.

The South Carolina Supreme Court made the ruling in a case that was argued in March.

The case affects 3,739 South Carolina customers with home-improvement or mobile-home loans in the mid-1990s from what was then Green Tree Financial Corp. Conseco bought Green Tree in 1998, two years after the dispute began.

Conseco Finance was ordered to pay about $20.1 million to the clients affected, plus $6.7 million in legal fees and consumer expenses.

Conseco couldn’t be reached for comment.