While the focus of this blog site is Property and Casualty matters, a recent Long-term care dispute constitutes an exception worthy of wide circulation, especially for carriers and their legal counsels. The case (See NOTE#1 below) not only featured the rarity of a full jury trial, but also a decision in favor of the insurer, Prudential Insurance Company. It ordered the policyholder defendants to pay both compensatory damages and punitive damages to Prudential totaling well over $1 million. The following is JS contributor Barry Zalma’s rendition of this notable Florida case involving Joint and Several liability.
THE JURY TRIAL AND VERDICT
Plaintiff, Prudential Insurance Company, sued defendants for numerous causes of action stemming from defendants (George and Carol Gardina) having fraudulently collected benefits under their long-term care insurance policies. Plaintiff’s case proceeded to a nine-day jury trial after which both defendants were found liable for fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment and civil conspiracy.
The jury also found defendant Carol Gardina liable to plaintiff for $1,930,129 in compensatory damages and defendant George Gardina separately liable for $12,496 in compensatory damages–along with punitive damages cited below.
THE APPEAL
Prudential apparently didn’t agree with defendant George Gardina getting off with only $12,496 in “separate” damages, so…following an appeal, Prudential moved to amend the judgment, contending that Florida law makes defendants jointly and severally liable for compensatory damages. Defendants opposed Prudential’s motion, arguing that the court should not disturb the jury’s original award of separate damages.
While it did acknowledge that the pending appeal prevented the court from amending the judgment it, nonetheless, agreed with Prudential that Florida law renders defendants jointly and severally liable.
Thus, the court indicated it would amend the judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(a) to reflect that Defendants are jointly and severally liable for the $1,930,129 in compensatory damages the jury awarded plaintiff for the fraud and conspiracy regarding the collection of benefits under defendant Carol Gardina’s insurance policy IF the Eleventh Circuit granted the court the ability to do so.
On October 19, 2026, the Eleventh Circuit granted Prudential’s motion and concurred that defendants are both liable for the full amount under Carol Gardina’s policy. The judgement was amended accordingly.
CONCLUSION
When insurers are sued for bad faith the insurer is usually required to pay a bonus to the plaintiffs. In this case, the situation was reversed, instead of finding that the insurer acted in bad faith the jury found Prudential to be the victim of a fraud and that the insureds must pay damages.
The court also FURTHER ORDERED, DECLARED, and DECREED that Prudential shall also recover punitive damages in the amount of twenty dollars ($20) from defendant George Gardina.
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NOTE #1: The Prudential Insurance Company of America v. Carol Gardina and George Gardina, No. 6:23-cv-1125-JSS-DCI, United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Orlando Division (October 22, 2026).
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Mr. Zalma has more than 53 years as a claims person and insurance coverage attorney who has advised insurers on claims handling and coverage interpretations. He provides expert testimony on insurance policy language, insurance bad faith, insurance claims handling and is a nationally recognized expert on insurance fraud matters.
To learn about Barry Zalma’s services for insurers go here. To learn about and subscribe to Zalma’s free Newsletter go here.
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