LAWRENCE BANKRUPTCY COURT CASE IS YEARS IN THE MAKING.(BUSINESS)(Correction notice)

Byline: JAMES DENN Business writer

ALBANY -- To insurance executive Albert W. Lawrence, it was the actions of top state insurance officials that led to his downfall -- to the filing of what may be the largest and most complicated bankruptcy court reorganization ever in the Capital Region.

To the regulators, Lawrence's financial woes are of his own making, and the state Insurance Department is merely the scapegoat he has chosen to excuse his failures.

No one disputes the fact, however, that Lawrence has been struggling for years with state insurance regulators over allegations of financial improprieties. Two years ago, he lost his largest insurance company, United Community Insurance Co. Now he is in danger of losing almost everything else, including his palatial Rexford estate in Clifton Park.

Late last month, the battle reached a climax. A federal judge in Syracuse was considering a ruling in a $10.2 million financial dispute between Lawrence and Shawmut Bank of Connecticut. Lawrence worried that the judge could order a summary judgment against him. So eight days ago, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in …