Deals & Suits: Cigna Insurance Lawsuit
Deals & Suits: Cigna Insurance Lawsuit
May 31, 1999
By Angela Ward
STEVE KILLION V. CIGNA INSURANCE CO. OF TEXAS
Jim Orr of Hurst and Joe Fisher II of Beaumont won a $1.4 million verdict May 20 in a personal-injury suit against Cigna Insurance Co. of Texas.
The verdict, which came after a week-long jury trial before 136th District Judge Milton Gunn Shuffield of Beaumont, awards $545,000 in actual damages and $900,000 in punitive damages. Because the injury to plaintiff Steve Killion occurred before Rule 21.21 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure was amended in 1995, the actual damages should be trebled for a judgment of $1.65 million plus prejudgment interest, Orr says. Shuffield has not signed a judgment and has not ruled on the defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.
According to the pleadings, the plaintiff, Steve Killion, sued after wrangling with Cigna for five years over whether the company would cover back surgery for a herniated disc he suffered in 1986. Killion had a workers' compensation policy with Cigna at the time of the injury, and was awarded lifetime medical coverage by the Industrial Accident Board.
Killion put off the surgery until 1994, at which time Cigna denied coverage because a representative read in Killion's medical report that his back hurt when he took care of his horses, and determined it was a nonwork injury, the pleadings state. Killion sued in 1995 for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing and deceptive trade practices. At trial, the plaintiff presented an internal Cigna memo suggesting that the denial of coverage was based on the horse reference. Orr argued that this memo was written the same day Cigna received the medical report, so the company did not have time to investigate the claim before denying it.
Shareholders Gary Scarzafava and Annelie Menke, of Houston's Scarzafava, Smith and Menke, represented Cigna. Scarzafava says the company denies any wrongdoing and plans to appeal.
Orr, an associate with Hurst's Note-boom and Gray, and Fisher, an associate with Provost I Umphrey, represented Killion.
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May 31, 1999
By Angela Ward
STEVE KILLION V. CIGNA INSURANCE CO. OF TEXAS
Jim Orr of Hurst and Joe Fisher II of Beaumont won a $1.4 million verdict May 20 in a personal-injury suit against Cigna Insurance Co. of Texas.
The verdict, which came after a week-long jury trial before 136th District Judge Milton Gunn Shuffield of Beaumont, awards $545,000 in actual damages and $900,000 in punitive damages. Because the injury to plaintiff Steve Killion occurred before Rule 21.21 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure was amended in 1995, the actual damages should be trebled for a judgment of $1.65 million plus prejudgment interest, Orr says. Shuffield has not signed a judgment and has not ruled on the defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.
According to the pleadings, the plaintiff, Steve Killion, sued after wrangling with Cigna for five years over whether the company would cover back surgery for a herniated disc he suffered in 1986. Killion had a workers' compensation policy with Cigna at the time of the injury, and was awarded lifetime medical coverage by the Industrial Accident Board.
Killion put off the surgery until 1994, at which time Cigna denied coverage because a representative read in Killion's medical report that his back hurt when he took care of his horses, and determined it was a nonwork injury, the pleadings state. Killion sued in 1995 for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing and deceptive trade practices. At trial, the plaintiff presented an internal Cigna memo suggesting that the denial of coverage was based on the horse reference. Orr argued that this memo was written the same day Cigna received the medical report, so the company did not have time to investigate the claim before denying it.
Shareholders Gary Scarzafava and Annelie Menke, of Houston's Scarzafava, Smith and Menke, represented Cigna. Scarzafava says the company denies any wrongdoing and plans to appeal.
Orr, an associate with Hurst's Note-boom and Gray, and Fisher, an associate with Provost I Umphrey, represented Killion.
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