You're supposed to post news articles, cause the news boards clean them out after awhile, and we have nothing to read.
Toronto ? A jury has ordered an insurance company to pay a would-be mushroom farmer $2-million in punitive damages for being "malicious" and "high-handed" in its refusal to pay the man after his farm burned down.
Frank Mazza, 62, learned of the award after a St. Catharines, Ont., jury handed down its verdict late Wednesday night. The jury also awarded more than $1-million on Mr. Mazza's original insurance policy with Hamilton Township Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company.
"I would like to take the opportunity to thank again very much the jurors for their time and perseverance in this case," Mr. Mazza told CFTO on Thursday, as he left a St. Catharines hotel where he had been staying during the jury's deliberations.
"I know it was very trying for them."
It is believed that prior to Mr. Mazza's award, the most a jury had ever handed down in such a case was $1-million in 2002, when a couple from Haliburton, Ont., won an eight-year legal battle against an insurance company that had accused them of torching their home. The largest previous punitive damages award in a similar case was $15,000.
"I was delighted with the award," Mr. Mazza's lawyer Alfred Kwinter said of Wednesday's ruling in an interview Thursday from his Toronto home.
"I think there was good grounds for it. It indicated the jury's outrage at the insurance company."
Mr. Mazza was planning to start a mushroom farm when the hillside land and two apartments he'd purchased only six months before burned to the ground on the night of Aug. 13, 1993.
Mr. Kwinter said the insurance company immediately suspected arson, and after investigating, refused to pay Mr. Mazza's claim on those grounds. Mr. Mazza then took the company to court.
Mr. Kwinter said that in court, the insurance company tried several defences to prove the claim was arson. But when physical evidence didn't support that claim, it tried to argue that Mr. Mazza's policy was invalid because he hadn't begun to grow mushrooms when the fire broke out.
"That is considered bad faith," Mr. Kwinter said. "You have to do a fair, balanced, independent and objective investigation and they didn't do that.
"I said to the jury, it is the 'throw it all against the wall and see if it will stick' defence."
The insurance company expressed dismay at the size of the award.
"I'm certainly shocked. It's amazing, it's unbelievable," said Ross Thompson, general manager of Hamilton Mutual.
"I'm almost certain there will be an appeal."
Mr. Thompson said he has been advised by lawyers not to give details of the case, but did say his company has about 20 staff and a total premium of $14.5-million.
"We're not a large company by any means," he said.
Mr. Mazza, who was a mechanic-turned-farmer, had taken out a policy on the property when he purchased it in February 1993.
According to the terms of the policy, he was entitled to the replacement value of the property. His tenant, Adelia Pereira, was also entitled to some funds. There was also a provision for loss of profits that was worth $150,000.
The jury upped those amounts, giving Mr. Mazza $1.2-million for lost moneys, and $450,000 for the property and its contents.
After the fire, Mr. Mazza abandoned mushroom farming in favour of running a boarding stable for horses. Ms. Pereira, who had managed the mushroom farm, now works at a Golden Griddle pancake house.
Neither could immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
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