GALVESTON — American National Insurance Co. plans to challenge a $60 million civil verdict Utah jurors returned against it in a lawsuit claiming the island firm induced a rival’s agents to defect.

The jury late last week awarded $3.6 million in compensatory damages to Farm Bureau Life Insurance. But it was a separate verdict of $60 million in punitive damages against American National and two of its subsidiaries that had the industry talking and the company calling for a retrial.

American National said the punitive damages, 16 times more than actual damages and among the top five such awards in Utah, were unconstitutional, bore no correlation to compensatory damages and were the product of a runaway jury.

Compensatory damages are meant to cover actual loss or injury, while punitive damage are meant to be stiff enough to dissuade others from committing the same act that resulted in the verdict.

James Pozzi, senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer for American National, called the verdict excessive and said it should give the company some recourse in efforts to seek another trial with the U.S. District Court for Utah.

But Jonathan Hawkins, a Salt Lake City attorney for Farm Bureau, said jurors listened to 10 days of testimony, including that of high-ranking American National executives, before making what he called a reasoned decision.

“We were pleased with it,” Hawkins said. “We felt there was sufficient evidence to back it up.”

In 2003, Farm Bureau Life Insurance filed a lawsuit against American National, two of its subsidiaries and also Darrin Ivie and Kenneth Gallacher in a case about a breach of company loyalty and the defection of six agents and three agents in training.

Ivie was a district manager for Farm Bureau in southern Utah. In 2002, while still employed as district manager, he entered into discussions with American National about employment opportunities for himself and for agents in training, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit asserts that Ivie and American National formulated plans to recruit as many Farm Bureau agents as possible.

Also according to the lawsuit, as early as 2002, Ivie communicated with Gallacher of American National, “freely sharing with him confidential, proprietary and trade secret information.”

Citing ongoing litigation, Pozzi declined Thursday to discuss the lawsuit’s merits.

But the company didn’t do anything to warrant such punitive damages, he said.

“A jury made a decision, and now we have to deal with that,” Pozzi said.

Jurors agreed that American National induced Ivie to breach the duty of loyalty that he owed Farm Bureau.

Altogether, punitive damages against all the defendants were $62 million, with American National’s share coming to an even $60 million.

American National, with hundreds of employees on the island and League City, sells life insurance, annuities, health insurance and property and casualty insurance for personal lines, among other services and products. The company has more than $18.9 billion in assets.