St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co., part of Travelers, must now fork over $43.8 million after a bad-faith claim related to a Missouri wrongful-conviction suit.

The verdict grows out of years of arguments begun by Ryan Ferguson and several ex-Columbia, Mo., officers. Ferguson was found guilty in 2005 of murdering a local sports writer; he walked free in 2013.

In 2014 he sued the city for civil-rights violations, and St. Paul had covered police liability from 2006 onward.

The insurer balked, saying the conviction predated its policy. Yet Circuit Judge Glen A. Dietrich ruled the wording did not say harm had to happen during the contract term.

Missouris appeals court upheld him, citing St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. City of Zion, a 2014 Illinois ruling on nearly the same facts. In both cases judges said prosecutors actions, not the arrest date, triggered coverage.

Fergusons attorneys first sought the policies full limits in 2015.