DEFRAUDED MINERS SOUGHT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993                   TAG: 9301270110
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
DEFRAUDED MINERS SOUGHT
The North Carolina Department of Insurance is trying to give $500,000 away to Appalachian coal miners and it's having a hard time of it.
The agency said a federal court named it a "special master" to help iron out a fraud case involving Bituminous Industries Trust, a broker of major medical insurance for the now defunct California Life Insurance Co.
The court, in a lengthy case involving fraud and insurance company failure, ruled that people who BIT defrauded should be awarded their fair share of $500,000 deposited with the court clerk.
Gary Felton, an insurance broker, was convicted of selling fraudulent insurance policies to coal miners in Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, the department said.
Felton collected insurance premiums through the Bituminous Industries Trust for the California Life Insurance Co. long after the company was declared insolvent in 1986, the department said.
People who were issued and maintained an active BIT policy between April 1, 1985, and April 30, 1987, are eligible to claim a portion of the money. Claimants have until March 15 to file their claim.
Proof-of-claim forms can be obtained by writing: Alex Spencer, Senior Deputy Commissioner, Special Master for BIT, 401 Glenwood Ave., Suite 220, Raleigh, N.C. 27603 or by calling (919) 733-2205.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB