Bearden v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

THEIS, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company’s motion for partial summary judgment on Billy Bearden’s punitive damages claim. In its Opinion and Order of April 15, 1986, this Court observed parenthetically that “John Hancock’s mistaken assumption that the statutes here in question did not apply to them is probably not sufficient to submit a question of punitive damages to a jury.” 635 F.Supp. 1084, 1088. That is precisely the question presented at this juncture for a ruling.

The Court has previously delineated the…