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Court drastically cuts insurer’s payment to paralyzed worker

News

February 28th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has reduced the compensation a northeast Iowa man received from a jury to a fraction of the verdict awarded him in a lawsuit against an insurance company in a workers’ compensation case. Even though the court found the American Interstate Insurance Company’s treatment of Toby Thornton “reprehensible” the justices left him with a judgment Friday of $558,000.

Earlier, one jury had awarded him $25 million and another $7 million. The 42-year-old Thornton was involved in an accident while driving a truck in June 2009 for Clayton County Recycling. He was left paralyzed below the chest.