Maxxam Gets $10 Million in FDIC Suit

A Texas conglomerate said Thursday that it had settled a 13-year dispute with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. involving redwood trees and a failed thrift.

In a securities filing, Houston-based Maxxam Inc. said the FDIC had paid it $10 million, ending a court battle with the agency.

The FDIC and other regulators had charged that Maxxam's chief executive, Charles Hurwitz, was to blame for the 1989 collapse of United Savings Association of Texas, which he partly owned.

The FDIC ultimately dropped its legal action, but Mr. Hurwitz sued, claiming that the agency had been part of a scheme to pressure him into giving 4,000 acres of redwoods to the government in exchange for debt forgiveness. In August 2005, a U.S. district judge ordered the FDIC to pay Mr. Hurwitz $72 million for his legal costs. An appeals court in April reduced the damages to no more than $15 million.

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