American Equity Investment Life Holding Company Q4 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

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Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

Thank you. (Operator instructions) You have a question from the line of Randy Binner, FBR Capital Markets. Please proceed.

Randy Binner – FBR Capital Markets

Hi good morning thank you. I guess the question on the SEC issue for Windy I think I heard that you are doing arguments in April and then there maybe similar activity in May. I apologize, I kind of missed that progression, if you just run through that again and may be give us a little bit more color on how that is progressing if there has been other insurance companies and trade organization that have joined in that suit with a yell?

Wendy Carlson

Sure absolutely. We filed the law suit in January really within hours of when the rule was published. Included in the suit initially is American Equity three other carriers and a couple of marketing organizations. We were successful shortly after that in getting the court to agree to hear the case on an expedited basis and so that was an important procedural victory early on that indicates. In the meantime, the NEIC petition that in a separate law suit also opposing the rule and those two cases have been consolidated and there is not briefing schedule for all parties that includes the NEIC. There have been a couple of briefs filed by friends of the court at (inaudible) including an insurance agent and our – and some others.

The deadline for those briefs is coming up in April and it is this fairly short-term. The SECs brief is due I want to say April the 10^th and we will be able a file a reply brief on behalf of the company and the petitioners and I believe that date is April the 16^th and then we will have arguments before the DC court of appeals on May the 8^th and at that point that the time frame becomes more open ended because the court can take however long it desires. We believe that we will certainly have a decision from the court before the end of ’09 and we would be hopeful to have a decision by the third quarter.

Randy Binner – FBR Capital Markets

Excellent, couple of follow-up questions. Now that the NEIC has now joined and your cases emerge is there any legal expense benefit to that we should think about in the other expense line going forward?

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