Cancer Patient Awarded $5 Million

July 18--A Pueblo jury awarded nearly $5 million to a man diagnosed with prostate cancer months after taking out an insurance policy against the disease but then being denied coverage by his provider.

Following a one-week trial, the jury awarded Michael D. Casper, 62, $4.75 million, including $4 million in punitive damages, against Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Co. on Tuesday.

"We're very pleased with what the jury came back with," said Casper's lawyer Zach Warzel, of the Denver firm Roberts, Levin, Rosenberg. "It was a long and torturous road for Mr. Casper to enforce his rights under the contract. Obviously it's not over yet. They still have appellate rights, but we're definitely happy that the community found it to be unacceptable what the insurance company was doing."

Warzel's co-counsel was David Jones of Golden.

According to the lawsuit, Casper was undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate when he purchased a first diagnosis cancer policy from a door-to-door salesman for Guarantee Trust.

In order to qualify for the policy, a person must say they haven't had a heart attack, stroke or cancer in his medical history.

Casper had never been diagnosed with cancer when he purchased the policy. But when the diagnosis came seven months later, the insurance company combed through his medical records, discovered his treatment for an enlarged prostate and denied the coverage.

The company argued that the ongoing treatment for an enlarged prostate led to the cancer diagnosis.

But Warzel said Casper's physicians testified that one doesn't necessarily lead to the other, an enlarged prostate is common among men over 50 and the diagnosis was the result of an unusual and rapid change in his blood work and further investigation of his prostate.

The award was for $150,000 of economic damages, $550,000 in noneconomic damages and $4 million in punitive damages.

District Judge David Crockenberg found the company was in breach of its contract prior to the trial, but the jury found the denial was unreasonable and a willful and wanton disregard of Casper's rights.

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