Jury orders insurer to pay $17.5 million

Wednesday, June 12, 1996
By Debra Davis
ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER

-LAFAYETTE- A Chambers County jury has awarded a Valley widow $17.5 million in a civil suit she filed against an insurance company that failed to pay her life insurance benefits after her husband died.

The jury deliberated about three and a half hours Monday before returning the verdict in favor of Evelyn D. McQuiston, 71, of Valley.

Mrs. McQuiston sued Liberty National Life Insurance Co. following her husband's death in 1992. The jury of eight women and four men awarded Mrs. McQuiston $330,000 in compensatory damages and $17.2 million in punitive damages.

Mrs. McQuiston's attorneys, Trip Walton of Opelika and Mike Cook of Valley, said she purchased a $20,000 policy for her husband William R. "Roy" McQuiston in 1991.

When he died in 1992, the company denied her claim and said Mrs. McQuiston had misrepresented her husband's health problems when the policy was issued.

During the trial, witnesses told the jury that an agent from Liberty National changed the application that Mrs. McQuiston had filled out. Witnesses also said the signature on the application was not that of Mrs. McQuiston.

Liberty National's attorney Bill Horsley of Opelika, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Mr. Walton said Mrs. McQuiston's devastation by her husband's death was compounded when the insurance company denied the claim. At 68 years old, she had to return to work so she could keep her house and provide for herself, he said.

"I hope this sends a message to Liberty National that you can't turn your agents loose without some type of supervision." Mr. Walton said, "It's also going to make Liberty National rethink the way they print their documents and the things they do and say in their documents, which are misleading and conflicting."

Mr. Walton said the verdict also should send a message to the Alabama Legislature.

"Rather than spending so much time on tort reform, they might ought to look at insurance reform in this state, because juries keep crying out for justice and all the Legislature wants to do is ignore it and try to hold down judgments," he said.

Mr. Walton said he expects Liberty National to appeal the case. If the verdict is upheld, then Liberty National must also pay interest on the amount awarded by the jury.

Fifth Judicial Circuit Judge Howard Bryan presided over the trial that began June 4 at the Chambers County Courthouse in LaFayette.

The Atlanta Journal/The Atlanta Constitution