Pilot's company faced $533,564 federal judgment

Posted by Erin Stock and Carol Robinson -- Birmingham News January 12, 2009 2:07 PM

A company owned by a pilot who intentionally abandoned his plane Sunday over Alabama was recently ordered by a federal court in Maryland to pay a $533,564 to OM Financial Life Insurance Company.

The default judgment against Marcus Schrenker's Heritage Wealth Management Inc. was issued on Friday. According to the Indiana Secretary of State's office, Schrenker is president of the company, which is based in Indianapolis.

In May of 2007, Baltimore-based OM Financial Life Insurance Company filed suit against Schrenker and his Heritage Wealth Management company claiming "unjust enrichment." The company claimed the defendants repeatedly failed to pay back "unearned" commissions they received relating to OM Financial products. The defendants sold insurance and/or annuity plans for OM Financial.

"Defendants have refused to return, and did not return, the $433,314 in commissions paid to them by OM Financial arising out of products that were surrendered, lapsed, reversed and/or free-looked within the chargeback period," an amended claim reads.

The judge also ordered the company to pay $33,852 in interest and attorneys' fees of $66,397.
Schrenker's small plane crashed in the Florida Panhandle Sunday night. He had reported turbulence, and said his windshield was blown out. Authorities said he exited the plane as it flew over Shelby County on Sunday night.

Schrenker, 38, was last seen early this morning when he spoke to Childersburg police at a store there and said he had been in a canoeing accident with some friends. He was wet from the knees down, and had no other injuries, according to a statement released by Wendell Hall, the sheriff of Santa Rosa County, Fla., where Schrenker's plane crashed.

Authorities said he was identified by the Childersburg officer as Schrenker through his driver's license and also had some goggles that looked like they were made for "flying," Hall said.