Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Nationwide Reargues $42.8M Case It Lost
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- In post-trial motions heard Wednesday and Thursday, the lead attorney for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., Quintin F. Lindsmith, insisted that if Christine Lucarell of Boardman hadn’t perjured herself, she never would have won the $42.8 million verdict rendered last November.
Lindsmith also asked visiting Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas J. Pokorny of Cuyahoga County to find that one of three expert witnesses, Shelly Aasserud, who testified in Lucarell’s behalf, also committed perjury and that Aasserud did not qualify as an expert witness.
Had Aasserud, a former Nationwide employee, not been heard by the jury, the eight men would not have awarded the level of damages they did, Lindsmith asserted.
A partner in his firm of Bricker & Eckler, Sommer Sheely, wrapped up the 1½-day hearing trying to introduce evidence not presented during the 11-day trial that Lucarell had converted funds Nationwide advanced her for her personal use rather than establishing her own agency.
Pokorny agreed that the law allows evidence to be introduced at any time after asking why Sheely’s allegations weren’t made during discovery or during the trial.
Matthew Ries, partner in Caryn Groedel & Associates, Solon, countered that a Nationwide supervisor testified at the trial and said the expenses and disbursements Lucarell submitted were in order. Lindsmith’s claim he needed a subpoena so he could see the checks Lucarell wrote and invoices submitted were “a red herring,” he said, to distract the court from the more important issues.
In short, the lawyers for Nationwide relitigated the case they made late last October and early November before a jury of eight men in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. During a break, Lucarell’s husband, Don, who sat through that trial and the four post-trial motions, stated Nationwide had offered nothing new as its lawyers sought to have Pokorny either order a new trial or reduce the damages awarded.
Ries had made the same observation at the end of Wednesday afternoon to a reporter. Ries rebutted Lindsmith’s arguments as Groedel took notes at the plaintiff’s desk and occasionally handed him one.
Essentially Pokorny heard arguments about four motions:
- To order a new trial.
- To grant subpoenas Nationwide wants so expert witnesses justify their qualifications and status as such.
- To quash those same subpoenas.
- To allow the conduct of further discovery.
As the hearing was drawing to a close and the only matter remaining was when one of Lucarell’s attorneys would be deposed by Lindsmith on payment of her legal fees, Pokorny observed, “Sometimes I feel I’m my own court of appeals here.” He allowed he was taking pains so an appellate court would not find he had committed a reversible error. The case is all but certain to be taken to the Ohio 7th District Court of Appeals.
While Pokorny did not rule on any of the four motions, he cut off Lindsmith some four times, instructing him not to argue various points since he had already written his decisions on those pleadings based on their briefs. He complimented both sets of lawyers on how well they had written their briefs.
He was insistent, however, that nothing was to be gained from further oral arguments.
In that trial, Lucarell related how she agreed to participate in Nationwide Insurance program to train agents and set up their own agencies only to find the insurance company undermined her and set her up to fail. Nationwide ruined her credit, she testified, thereby preventing her from again working as an agent.
After deliberating two days, the jury agreed and awarded Lucarell $5.7 million in lost profits, $1 million for emotional distress, $100,000 for retaliation and $36 million in punitive damages.
Today Lucarell works as an insurance clerk for Huntington Insurance. She retains her status as an agent, Ries agreed, so she can quote prices over the phone to prospective customers. And she relies on her employer’s credit rating so she can continue as an agent to quote prices over the phone. Aside from that she primarily processes policies other agents write, work she once enjoyed performing.
BACKGROUND:
Lucarell Jury Award May Lead to Class Action Lawsuit
Nationwide Appeals Lucarell's $42.8 Million Verdict
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.