AutoCAD Civil 3D :: Importing Styles Internal Error

we have some styles to import into our drawings and when we try to import them, we get

INTERNAL ERROR:  !dbobji.cpp@8749: eNotOpenForWrite

We don't have a functional work around for this yet.  We're using C3D 2014 (IDSP).  We can get this error importing styles into some existing CAD files, but not all.  We can create a brand new, blank drawing and attempting to import these styles will cause the error.  The error occurs during the 'verifying imported styles' progress bar in the lower left.

We thought we were getting somewhere when we exported to dwg 2013 format and opened that and we could then import styles with no issue.  Unfortunately, in exporting to dwg 2013 format, we lose all of our surface and point data.  Doing a saveas to 2013 apparently does nothing more than just save the drawing and that will still not allow importing of styles.

how to get our style templates to successfully import into all of our CAD files.