$2.2 Million Verdict Against American Family After Insurer Delayed Payment to Amputee Despite Admitted Fault

The other driver admitted fault at the scene. There was no dispute about who caused the crash. What followed anyway was months of delay from American Family Insurance, leaving a 91-year-old woman, who had lost her leg in the collision, without fair compensation for her injuries.

The plaintiff's situation was serious from the start. She lost the leg and faced a long, difficult rehabilitation. By the accounts of those who worked with her, she refused to accept defeat: she progressed from a wheelchair to walking with a cane. Her recovery required sustained effort over months of medical care and physical therapy.

Despite the straightforward liability, American Family offered far less than the case was worth. Richard Ruohonen and Charles Slane of TSR Injury Law, then operating as Terry, Slane and Ruohonen, took the case. They concluded from reviewing the file that American Family had a pattern of undervaluing legitimate claims and offering their own customers a fraction of what the injuries warranted.

The trial expenses alone came to roughly $50,000, reflecting the preparation required to put a bad-faith insurance case before a jury. Ruohonen and Slane built the trial around two questions: what the injuries actually cost their client, and whether the insurer had any reasonable basis for the offers it had made.

The jury sided with the plaintiff and returned a verdict of $2.2 million, well above what American Family had put on the table. Minnesota Lawyer named Ruohonen and Slane its Attorneys of the Year for 2014 based in part on this result. No reduction on appeal has been reported.