Nationwide award reduced again, lawsuit remanded for new trial

YOUNGSTOWN

A three-judge panel of the 7th District Court of Appeals has reduced substantially the monetary award granted to a former Nationwide insurance agent after a jury trial of her lawsuit against Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. of Columbus.

In a unanimous decision released Thursday, the panel cut Christine Lucarell’s total award to $2,375,708.

It also sent the case back to visiting Judge Thomas J. Pokorny for a new trial on Lucarell’s fraud claim and on punitive damages for her breach-of-contract claims.

The jury in the 2012 trial of Lucarell’s lawsuit against Nationwide awarded her $42.8 million, but Judge Pokorny reduced that to $14,167,010 after the trial.

Lucarell, whose Nationwide agency was in Boardman Plaza, had sued the insurance giant, alleging it breached her contract as a Nationwide agent.

She also alleged that Nationwide recruited her and about 400 other agents with the intention of terminating their agencies once they generated a profitable book of business for Nationwide.

Read more about the case and this latest turn of events in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.