In 2004, more work was done, and the $50 million buy-out was offered again, along with settlement of the suit. But then-Gov. Olene Walker (who succeeded to the governor's office when Mike Leavitt resigned to join the Bush administration) didn't accept the compromise bill.

"I thought we had a deal on that one," said House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy. "We thought we had an agreement on a third version with the governor," he added. "But it turned out to be a no-go. It contained the $50 million."

Bramble ran no WCF bill in the 2005 Legislature. A district court gave a summary judgment in favor of the WCF (not a good legal sign for the state), and the high court in a 5-0 decision Tuesday upheld that ruling.

The high court said the "state of Utah has no ownership interest in the Workers Compensation Fund or its assets other than as a policyholder." Furthermore, the court ruled that aside from the Legislature's ability to change governing statutes, the state has no managerial, financial or operational control of the WCF.

Curtis said the state of Utah is still one of the largest policyholders in WCF. "That has some value. Is it $50 million? Probably not."

But if the WCF wants to get out of being the insurer of last resort in Utah — "then there is some value in those policies," Curtis said. And the speaker guesses that the Legislature would extract some monetary value out of the fund if lawmakers agreed to set up some other kind of insurer of last resort and let the fund out of its current obligations.

Summerhays said all the major issues concerning the fund have now been settled. The Supreme Court's decision "is the last piece to settle everything down."

All the above action took place before Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. took office last January. His spokeswoman, Tammy Kikuchi, said that the state values what the fund does for both employers and employees. Even with the high court's ruling that the state has no ownership other than as a policyholder, Kikuchi said, "Gov. Huntsman is hopeful that the fund will continue to serve Utah's work force well."

Did the state screw up in not taking the $50 million? "We won't comment on actions of previous administrations," she said.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com