Insurance giant Allstate Insurance Corp. won a $3 million federal jury verdict — $1.5 million of it in punitive damages — in a suit against three individuals who had been accused of defrauding the company by filing false and inflated claims in the aftermath of California’s 1994 Northridge earthquake.
James Fitzgerald, a partner at Los Angeles’ Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps, who tried the case for Allstate, commented, “It’s clear that the jury thought a message should be sent — just because you’re a big insurance company doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get your damages back.”
