WILLIAMS v. FANNIE MAE — Entry #33: MOTION for Summary Judgment by FANNIE MAE, RICHARD LAWCH, GRACE HUERSCHER

Case 1:05-cv-01483-JDB Document 33-21 Filed 06/21/2007 Page 1 of 10

EXHIBITS


Case 1:05-cv-01463-JDB Document 33-21

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2 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
3 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI

4 SOUTHERN DIVISION

n) X

6 CAM FINANCIAL SERVICES INC.,
7 Plaintiff,
3 -against- No. 1:01cv314BrR

9 GENERAL STAR NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY;
GENERAL STAR INDEMNITY COMPANY; GENERAL

10 STAR MANAGEMENT COMPANY; GENERAL RE
CORPORATION; GENERAL REINSURANCE

11 CORPORATION; CRUMP INSURANCE SERVICES OF
MEMPHIS INC.; FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE

12 ASSOCIATION (FANNIE MAB),

13 Defendants.

X
14

January 19, 2004
15 9:19 a.m.

16  Videotaped deposition of CRAIG J. OTT,

17 taken by Plaintiff, pursuant to notice, at

18 the offices of Dewey Ballantine LLP, 1301

19 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York,
20 before Gail F. Schorr, a Certified Shorthand

21 Reporter, Certified Realtime Reporter and

22 Notary Public within and for the State of

23 New York.

24

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ried 06/21/2007

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Case 1:05-cv-01463-JDB Document 33-21 Filed 06/21/2007

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APPEARANCES:

LUMPKIN & REEVES
Attorneys for Plaintiff
160 Main Street
Biloxi, Mississippi 39533

BY: JAMES R. REEVES, ESQ.

BYRD & WISER

Attorneys for Plaintiff
145 Main Street
P.O. Box 1939 (39533)
Biloxi, Mississippi 39530

BY: NICHOLAS VAN WISER, ESQ.

McGLINCHEY STAFFORD PLLC
Attorneys for Defendant FEDERAL
NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION (FANNIE
MAE)
643 Magazine Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

BY: GERARD E. WIMBERLY, JR., ESQ.
~and-
CYNTHIA L. BROWNE, ESQ.

DEWEY BALLANTINE LLP
Attorneys for Defendant GENERAL STAR
1301 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10019-6092

BY: DAVID J. GRAIS, ESQ.

Jan 19, 2004 - CAM of Craig Ott

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1 CRAIG J. OTT

2 courses?

3 A. No, sir.

4 Q. Where is Pace University?

5 A. New York City.

6 Q. Allright. Did you attend

7 those at night while you maintained your

8 full-time job?

9 A. That's correct.

10 Q. Walk me forward with your work

11 history from the time that you graduated
12 undergraduate -- from the undergraduate
13 college in I think '68 you said. Tell us

14 the various jobs that you've held up to the
15 time that you went to work with the Gen Star
16 companies?

17 A. I worked for Aetna C&S in

18 Rochester, New York.

19 Q. Tl tell you, so we don't

20 interrupt you flow, I'll interrupt you here,
21 but as you go through this if you can tell
22 me generally what your job title was and a
23 brief description of what you did it will
24 save us from having to come back and ask

25 that question once you're through.

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1 CRAIG J. OTT

2 A. Okay. I worked for Aetna C&S

3 in Rochester, New York, for an agency as an
4 underwriter, performing typical underwriting
5 duties.

6 I left there and moved

7 after -- that was after I was discharged

8 from the army in 1970. So I moved to New
9 Jersey in 1972 where I took a position with
10 Reynolds Securities, a New York Stock

1] Exchange firm as a registered

12 representative. I worked as a stock broker
13 there for two years. I left there and went

14 to -- took a position with General

15 Reinsurance Corporation as an underwriter.
16 Q. Approximately what year would

17 that have been?

18 A. 1973.

19 Q. You hired on there at Gen Re

20 as an underwriter?

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. Tell us in a very summary

23 fashion generally what an underwriter at Gen
24 Re, Gen Star Company does?

25 A. The position J held was

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1 CRAIG J. OTT

2 property facultative underwriter. I

3 entertained risk submissions from insurance
4 companies for the purpose of mitigating,

5 transferring, reducing risk on their part.

6 Facultative reinsurance is an

7 account-by-account acceptance, risk

8 acceptance process.

9 [left General Re in 1977,

10 '78, I'm not clear on that. °78, I believe.

11 Q. Why did you leave?

12 A. To start my own business. I

13 went to work as a broker at a small firm

14 called RFC Intermediaries. I worked there
15 for one year as a property facultative

16 reinsurance broker. | then left there and

17 started my own business called First

18 Manhattan Intermediaries in 1978.

19 First Manhattan Intermediaries

20 was a reinsurance brokerage firm. We had an
21 office in New York. A year later we opened
22 an office in Chicago. We had about 20 -- as
23 Irecall, 20 to 25 employees. We were

24 acquired by Alexander & Alexander in 198] --
25 '83, 1983 I believe it was.

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1 CRAIG J. OTT

2 Q. Where did you go next?

3 A. That acquisition was -- we

4 were made part of a subsidiary of Alexander
5 & Alexander known as Thomas A. Greene &
6 Company. I worked there until 1988. I left
7 there to join another reinsurance brokerage |
8 firm called -- I don't remember what it was
9 called at the time. It was in a transition.

10 It became Aon Risk Services I believe was
11 the final name.

12 Q. Aon Risk Services?

13 A. I believe that was it. It was

14 not -- you cannot use the word reinsurance
15 in a brokerage name, so. And it wasn't Aon
16 Re. I believe it was Aon Risk Services. I
17 worked there for one year and I was

18 recruited away by another firm known as John
19 F. Sullivan Company in Philadelphia,

20 Pennsylvania.

21 Q. Sorry, backing up. What did

22 you do at Aon Risk Services?

23 A. Reinsurance broker, same as

24 Thomas A. Greene before that.

25 Q. Allright. We're up to

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1 CRAIG J. OTT

2 Sullivan. What did you do there?

3 A. Reinsurance broker. I worked

4 there until 1995. During that time I was a
5 reinsurance broker and worked on information
6 systems based reinsurance projects. I

7 worked at General Star in 1995. I worked
8 there for five years until 2000, 2000.

9 Q. Did you hold the same job

10 title or position during your entire tenure?
11 A. At which?

12 Q. At Gen Star.

13 A. At Gen Star. No, I was

14 promoted once while I was there.

15 Q. What was your initial hire-in

16 title?

17 A. Second vice president. I was

18 promoted to vice president.

19 Q. When was that promotion?

20 A. JY would say it was perhaps in

21 1997.

22 Q. Were you second vice

23 president, vice president of any particular
24 division?

25 A. Yes.

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2 Q. What division?

3 A. I was responsible for the

4 operation of the property division of

5 General Star.

6 Q. From 1997 up until the time

7 that you left Gen Star in 2000, who was your
8 supervisor?

9 A. Kevin Brooks.

10 Q. Was he your supervisor during

11 the entire time that you worked at Gen Star?
12 A. That's correct.

13 Q. So there was no level of

14 supervisor between you and Kevin Brooks?
15 A. No, sir.

16 Q. Who did you supervise?

17 A. Thad five branch offices,

18 Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, New York and Los
19 Angeles. So I supervised the managers of
20 the property department in those five

21 offices.

22 Q. Allright. Who were they?

23 A. Atlanta was Cliff Groover.

24 Dallas was Jerry Miller. Los Angeles,

25 Michael Denton. New York, Robert Wenzel.

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1 CRAIG J. OTT

2 And Chicago, Bruce Wise. And there was some
3 turnover during that time, but those were

4 the original contacts in those five offices.

> Q. Describe for us your duties

6 and responsibilities on a typical, routine

7 daily or weekly basis during this time

8 period at Gen Star.

9 MS. BERGIN: Object to the

10 form.

11 A. My responsibility was to

12 manage the affairs of those, the individuals
13 in those departments regarding their

14 direction of production, their focus on

15 products, and of course the goal was to

16 generate an underwriting profit.

17 Q. How often did you meet with

18 Mr. Brooks?

19 A. There was no -- we had monthly

20 meetings. Other than that, there were no
21 set pattern -- there was no set pattern of

22 meetings, but I would say that we met

23 intermittently perhaps once every other

24 week. And we would have an annual meeting

25 as well as an annual planning meeting.

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