Paraplegic Marine Awarded $19 Million
A paraplegic former Marine from Westminster, more than $ 19million in punitive damages awarded in his lawsuit against an insurance company that denied him a full coverage, while in the hospital after breaking a leg, his lawyer said. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury less than two hours discussed the finding in favor of 57-year-old Thomas Nickerson, who Stonebridge Life Insurance Co. sued for breach of contract in January 2009.Nickerson same jury previously awarded more than $ 65,000 in damages, most of it for emotional distress.
Nickerson’s attorney, William Shernoff, said Stonebridge was only the former Navy pays for 19 of his 109 days in a Veterans Administration hospital in Long Beach spent after falling from his wheelchair and broke his right leg in February 2008.Shernoff said insurance companies should not be able to use the expertise of clinicians in determining the benefits override. And of course so many trades of insurers will choose some better discuss before an conclusion get real Stonebridge attorney James Wood could not immediately be reached. However, in their own court papers, lawyers for Stonebridge declared the payment of benefits for 19 days were “under the conditions of the policies and conditions of the hospital.”