A former Major League Baseball starting pitcher whose career took a negative turn in 2017 after a collision with a teammate has reached a settlement in his long-running lawsuit against an insurance broker and his business managers Wednesday just as trial was about to begin.
Right-hander Matthew Garza, 41, played for the Milwaukee Brewers when he collided with first baseman Jesus Aguilar on June 3, 2017, when Cody Bellinger, then of the Dodgers, hit a grounder to Aguilar, who was positioned behind first base. Garza suffered a bruised chest and initially remained in the game, but was later placed on the disabled list.
After the season, Garza’s injury was diagnosed as having a torn labrum in the right shoulder. He underwent surgery in January 2018 and did not play in the majors again.
Defendants Nigro Karlin Segal & Feldstein LLP and NKSFB LLC served as Garza’s business managers from 2008 to 2022, providing services that included assisting him in acquiring and maintaining insurance coverage and filing claims, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that was resolved Wednesday during a hearing before Judge Stephen P. Pfahler.
No terms were divulged, but the accord is awaiting signatures and includes a non-disparagement clause, according to a minute order prepared by the judge’s clerk.
Another defendant, Gilbert Insurance Services Inc., was the broker hired by the business managers to obtain a $10 million permanent total disability insurance policy from Lloyd’s of London to provide coverage to Garza from March 31, 2017, to March 31, 2018, the suit filed in July 2021 stated. Both the business managers and Gilbert Insurance denied any liability to Garza. Paradigm-Gilbert Insurance Services acquired Gilbert Insurance’s stock in January 2020.
Garza alleged that the business managers and Gilbert Insurance filled out two versions of the insurance application incompletely and incorrectly and submitted both versions of the insurance applications without the pitcher’s review or approval.
Garza also alleged that the defendants had an undisclosed financial arrangement and that the managers were paid an unrevealed commission for Garza’s insurance policy, contentions denied by the defendants.
When the defendants helped Garza in filing a total and permanent disability claim with Lloyd’s in 2019, the insurer cancelled the policy, according to the suit, which further states that Garza believes Lloyd’s actions were attributable to the defendants’ alleged mistakes with the application.
Lloyd’s and another defendant, International Specialty Insurance Services Inc., settled with Garza earlier in the case.
Garza was the 25th pick in the first round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft and was picked by the Minnesota Twins. While a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, Garza threw a no-hitter on July 26, 2010, at home against the Detroit Tigers, becoming the fifth pitcher that season to throw a no-hitter. It was also the first no-hitter thrown by a Rays pitcher in the team’s history.