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Former Hogs QB Clint Stoerner Tangles with Former Business Partners

6 min read

What started out as a perfect partnership between former Razorbacks star quarterback Clint Stoerner and three businessmen to form a Little Rock insurance agency has turned into a courtroom battle.

In a lawsuit filed last year in Pulaski County Circuit Court, Stoerner accused his former partners — Todd Havens, Larry Vassar and his adult son, Rick Vassar — of breach of contract for removing him from his $100,000-a-year job at Stoerner & HaVas Insurance Agency Inc. When the agency was formed five years ago, Stoerner received a 25 percent ownership in the company.

Havens and the Vassars deny any wrongdoing. Instead, they turned around and filed a counterclaim against Stoerner, accusing him of fumbling his responsibilities at the insurance agency.

Havens and the Vassars had hoped to use Stoerner’s local celebrity status to market the company and attract business, according to their counterclaim.

“None of this ever occurred, however, as Stoerner & HaVas was not profitable during Mr. Stoerner’s tenure and has been laden with several hundred thousand dollars in debt that can be directly attributed to Mr. Stoerner’s failure to perform,” the counterclaim said.

The sides are so far apart on the facts of the case that they can’t even agree on whether Stoerner was fired or resigned.

Neither Stoerner’s attorney, Matthew B. Finch of Little Rock, nor the defendants’ attorney, Joseph W. Price II of Little Rock, would comment.

The filings in the case, however, offer a glimpse inside the troubled company.

With Stoerner out, the agency changed its name earlier this year to Truck Centers Insurance Group. Its website describes an independent transportation insurance agency with a wide range of products for truckers and trucking companies.

“Our goal is to build long lasting relationships throughout the community that are based on trust, honesty, and a commitment to service,” the website says.

In 2007, Havens and the Vassars bought a truck dealership in North Little Rock and renamed it Truck Centers of Arkansas. It wasn’t long, however, before the bottom fell out of the economy.

“The year 2009 was one of the worst years to be in the dealer business,” Rick Vassar told Arkansas Business earlier this year. “We did OK. We made it through that.”

He said sales are generally between 2,500 and 3,000 tractors a year to the major trucking and truck-using firms in Arkansas. “It’s a good business to be in,” Vassar said. Truck Centers of Arkansas was a 2015 finalist for Arkansas Business of the Year among companies with between 76 and 300 employees.

The court filings said the Stoerner & HaVas agency was formed in 2010 to provide insurance to the transportation and trucking industry.

The court filings don’t say who approached whom about starting the business, but Havens and the Vassars said in their filing that they wanted Stoerner because of he was locally famous.

Stoerner was one of the University of Arkansas’ top quarterbacks and held a number of Razorbacks passing records when his college career ended in 1999. Many fans, however, remember Stoerner’s fumble in the closing minutes against No. 1-ranked Tennessee in 1998, a fumble that some argued cost Arkansas the win.

Still, Stoerner made it to the NFL and briefly played for the Dallas Cowboys in the early 2000s.

It’s unclear why Stoerner decided to pursue a career in the insurance industry.

A 2012 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette quoted Stoerner as saying it was a “shame” when former sports stars “just sit at home and do nothing for a year, when just showing up and signing autographs or shaking hands for an hour can help raise money for a person or an organization in need.”

Stoerner was the only one of the four owners who didn’t put any money in to start the firm. Instead, the arrangement was for him to be employed as an at-will insurance agent who would also receive 25 percent of any dividends if the company was profitable, according to Havens and the Vassars.

In addition to the six-figure salary, Stoerner received a number of benefits, such as a cellphone, company car, iPad and membership in Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock. He also was given access to a company credit card that was supposed to be used for the agency’s business.

Stoerner said in his lawsuit that he was the only one of the owners who was licensed by the Arkansas Insurance Department. And he said he “labored to establish and expand the business operations of Stoerner & HaVas.”

The Breakup

Reading the case file, it’s difficult to pinpoint when the trouble began.

The Havens and the Vassars said it seemed as if Stoerner always had something else going on that kept him away from the office. “For instance, Mr. Stoerner consistently left the Stoerner & HaVas offices early so that he could teach football lessons or participate in football camps,” they told the court.

A key turning point came in April 2013. Stoerner took a job with Pat Bradley, a former Arkansas Razorbacks basketball standout, to host a weekday sports morning radio show on KKSP-FM, 93.3. After taking that assignment, Stoerner began showing up at the agency “after lunch and leaving only a few hours later, if he showed up to the offices at all,” Havens and the Vassars said.

Both sides agree there was a meeting between Stoerner and Havens in September 2013, but that’s where the agreement ends.

Stoerner said in his filing that Havens fired him at the meeting and kicked him off the company’s board of directors. The termination prevented Stoerner from selling insurance on behalf of the company, he said.

Stoerner said that he has not received any payment from the company since that meeting.

Stoerner said he attempted to either buy the other owners’ shares or sell his ownership stake to Havens and the Vassars, but the negotiations failed. Instead, Stoerner said, the other owners wanted Stoerner to hand over his ownership interest without being paid for it.

Stoerner said that as a result of his being sacked by the firm, the company’s customers haven’t been served and “several employees” left.

Havens and the Vassars have a different understanding of what happened at the meeting. They said Stoerner wasn’t fired. Instead, Havens said, Stoerner was told the company would pay him only for work performed and for commissions.

But Stoerner’s work at the agency didn’t improve, they said.

Stoerner formed Clint Stoerner Insurance Group LLC of Little Rock on Jan. 2, 2014.

Stoerner still is listed as the owner of his namesake agency and does football analyses for KTHV-TV, Channel 11, and KABZ-FM, 103.7, according to his LinkedIn profile.

But starting his own agency didn’t sit well with Havens and the Vassars. “Stoerner’s actions in forming a new insurance company were in direct competition with Stoerner & HaVas — Mr. Stoerner’s own company in which he was an employee, officer, and shareholder,” Havens and the Vassars said.

According to partners, six more weeks passed before Stoerner resigned as an officer of Stoerner & HaVas.

Havens and the Vassars said that after Stoerner left, they discovered that he had used the company credit card for personal items such as plane tickets to Houston, trips to Fayetteville and meals.

Stoerner denied the allegations involving the company credit cards and other wrongdoing.

Havens and the Vassars are suing Stoerner for several counts, including breach of fiduciary duties, and are seeking an unspecified amount of damages.

Stoerner also is seeking an unspecified amount of damages from Havens and the Vassars. He also wants Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox to dissolve the Stoerner & HaVas agency or determine the value of Stoerner’s shares in the company and award him that amount.

As of last week, a trial date had not been set.

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