Evans Petree Lawyers Found in Contempt

By Stacey Shrader ... on Thu, 04/05/2012 - 4:08pm

Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle held three Memphis attorneys in contempt of court and ordered them to repay nearly $670,000 to consumers who thought they were buying legitimate insurance products. The Tennessean reports that Lyle found that William L. Hendricks, Russell T. "Rusty" Hensley and Theodore T. Kitai – all with the Memphis firm Evans Petree PC – were founders and officers of a firm set up to continue to sell insurance and collect premiums after the state shut down two Springfield companies operated by a client of the attorneys. The companies were closed in March 2010 when investigators found they were operating without an insurance license and were not offering legitimate insurance policies.