National Hockey League insurer Chubb hits back after sport star’s accusations

Firm says player’s injuries are partly due to “partying” and “binge-drinking”

National Hockey League insurer Chubb hits back after sport star’s accusations

Insurance News

By Lucy Hook

An insurer is battling back against a sports star who claims that he is permanently disabled and has suffered numerous seizures due to brain injuries suffered during his playing career.

Chubb Group of Insurance Co. is disputing the claims of former National Hockey League (NHL) player Mike Peluso, arguing that the player’s seizures were in fact brought on by his own behaviour which includes ‘partying’ and ‘binge drinking’.

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Chubb – which insures the New Jersey Devils, one of five NHL teams that Peluso previously played for – said in a newly-filed court document that the majority of Peluso’s documented seizures were brought on by a “lack of sleep, partying, dehydration, binge drinking, and failure to take medication”, TSN reports.

Chubb’s lawyer, Samantha Deutschel, wrote in a filing this month that the insurer has not received proof of Peluso’s recent seizures – one of which is said to have taken place in August last year.

Deutschel wrote: “In fact, defendants have not been provided with any medicals showing recent grand mal seizures as presently alleged.”

She added that Peluso had not offered any medical evidence to support the allegations of brain damage and diagnosis of dementia.

Deutschel went on to say that Peluso’s own evaluations demonstrate that he is able to conduct his daily life, adding: “…the applicant pays his own bills, cooks, monitors medications, goes to the gym four-five times a week, long term memory is excellent and enjoys golf and rollerblading.”

Peluso originally filed a workers’ compensation claim in the US in 2012, which alleged that he is now permanently disabled, and named four of his former NHL teams – along with their respective insurers – as defendants.

Peluso’s lawyer, Shawn Stuckey, accused the insurer of “ignoring glaring medical evidence”, commenting: “Chubb’s statements remind me of the NFL’s mindset towards concussions and brain injuries before it admitted the link between the two: delay, deny, and hope they die.”

In November last year, an appeals board concluded that the Devils had “wrongfully withheld” key medical documents from Peluso and his legal team.

Devils vice-president, senior counsel Christine Steinberg, responded in an affidavit on January 12, stating that she properly provided the documents in question to Chubb in both 2013 and 2015, and also sent the documents directly to Stuckey in 2015.

The workers’ compensation panel agreed in December to a request from the defendants to decide Peluso’s case in two possible trials, the report said.

An initial trial may be held first to determine whether Peluso’s case should be held in California, with a second trial held to hear the merits of his case.

Stuckey has appealed the decision, claiming it would delay Peluso’s case by at least a year.

Spokespeople for both Chubb and the Devils declined to comment, the report said.


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