California Supreme Court Sides with SBE in Nickerson v. Stonebridge

In 2011, William Shernoff and other attorneys from Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP obtained a $19 million verdict against Stonebridge Life Insurance Co. on behalf of Thomas Nickerson.

Mr. Nickerson spent 109 days in the hospital, but Stonebridge only paid for 19 days, leaving the handicapped veteran with over $38,000 in unpaid hospital bills. It took the jury roughly two hours to deliberate and award the eight-figure verdict, which Stonebridge immediately appealed.

On Thursday, June 9, the California Supreme Court ruled in the firm’s favor on one of the issues, concluding that certain attorneys’ fees should be included when a trial court calculates the constitutional limit of a jury’s penalty damage award.

The news was picked up by the Los Angeles Daily Journal and Law360, the Law360 story be read by clicking here (subscription required).