A Colorado state court jury heard opening statements on Monday in a lawsuit accusing an insurance company of failing to approve critically needed inpatient rehab treatment for a worker who suffered a major traumatic brain injury, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Plaintiff Fermin Salguero-Quijada sued Norguard Insurance Company, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway, accusing them of acting in bad faith by refusing to pay for specialized inpatient treatment after he fell from a ladder while painting apartment complexes in Utah. His attorney Sean Claggett of Claggett & Sykes Trial Lawyers says the decision caused a needless gap in treatment that allowed Salguero-Quijadas injuries to become permanent.
Norguard maintains there was a reasonable dispute over whether Salguero-Quijada was eligible for their workmans comp coverage or whether the company that subcontracted with the painting company he worked for was responsible, and that they made their coverage decisions based on recommendations from his own workers comp physician.
