Parties negotiated complete settlement of ERISA claim
The plaintiff was 34 years old, married and the father of one young child. He claimed that he was riding his motorcycle on a rural, two-lane road when the defendant turned left in front of him.
The plaintiff was badly injured and is now completely and totally disabled.
The defendant’s insurance company hired an accident reconstructionist to investigate the wreck and then offered the defendant’s policy limits of $1 million.
The complicating factor in the case was that the plaintiff’s health benefits were provided pursuant to his employer’s purported self-funded ERISA plan that included a “low limits” stop-loss agreement with Zurich Insurance Co. The health plan and its stop-loss carrier claimed reimbursement rights that totaled more than $506,000.
After lodging numerous objections to and rejections of the employer’s purported ERISA claim, the plaintiff’s counsel, at the plaintiff’s instruction, disbursed the settlement proceeds without payment of the purported ERISA claim.
Following the disbursement, the plaintiff’s counsel was able to negotiate a complete settlement of the ERISA claim for a payment of only $35,000 to the stop-loss carrier and $0 to the employer.
Type of action: Motorcycle wreck — $500,000 ERISA claim
Injuries alleged: Brain injury, collapsed lungs, heart injury and fractured vertebrae, pelvis and leg
Case name: Value v. Rountree
Case number: 07-CVS-234
Court: Perquimans County Superior Court
Judge: N/A
Verdict or settlement: Settlement (mediation)
Date: Aug. 2007
Amount: $1 million
Special damages: $500,000-plus (medical bills), $11,000 (property damage) and, due to permanent disability, lost job earning $1,000 per week
Insurer: N.C. Farm Bureau
Plaintiff’s attorney: Danny Glover Jr. and D. Keith Teague of Teague & Glover (Elizabeth City)
October 26, 2009