Continental Service Life and Health Insurance Company v. Robert Grantham

W. EUGENE DAVIS, Circuit Judge:

Continental Service Life and Health Insurance Company (CSL) sued to recoup a brokerage or finder’s fee it paid to appellant Grantham and the district court rendered judgment in favor of CSL. Because CSL did not establish that it made the payment to Grantham by mistake, we reverse.

I

Robert Grantham has worked for twenty-three years as a broker or middleman assisting his customers either to buy or sell insurance companies. In 1982, principals in Continental Key Financial Group (Continental Key) asked Grantham to assist them find and purchase an insurance company.…