Epworth Villa case party seeks investigation of judgment value

By Mark Reccek

Bethlehem, Pa., Sept. 3 – Central Oklahoma United Methodist Retirement Facility, Inc., which does business as Epworth Villa, interested party Homeland Insurance Co. of New York requested the appointment of an examiner to investigate and report on the value of a $15.87 million judgment, according to a motion filed Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

As previously reported, William Hicks, individually and as guardian for Virginia Hicks, filed a lawsuit against Epworth in October 2011 in connection with a broken wrist suffered by Virginia Hicks at the company's facility. On July 9, 2014, the District Court of Oklahoma County entered a judgment in favor of Hicks.

According to the motion, “the fact that the state court gave partial default judgment on a simple discovery dispute, gave default judgment on punitive damages over inconsistent testimony, released the jury as a sanction on the first day of trial without allowing an evidentiary hearing or briefing on the issues, awarded $3.5 million to Mr. Hicks on an IIED [Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress] claim brought for the first time at trial, and awarded $10 million in punitive damages for a broken wrist requiring no surgery and incurring only $5,212.64 in medical costs, raises multiple red flags that should be investigated by an impartial examiner.”

Epworth Villa is an assisted living facility in Oklahoma City that filed for bankruptcy on July 18, 2014. The Chapter 11 case number is 14-12995.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.