Ex-auto insurer hits a red light; $37-million pile-up halts former InsureOne chief's...

Byline: STEVE DANIELS

Illinois regulators aren't ready for James Hallberg to buy another insurance company; they're still sorting through the $37-million wreckage of his last two.

That's the estimated amount by which claims and other liabilities of Valor and Gallant insurance companies, once the largest insurers of high-risk drivers in Illinois, exceeded assets when the state Department of Insurance moved to take them over two years ago. Much of that shortfall will be covered by the state guaranty fund, which is backed by fees on solvent insurers.