Doctor Awarded $7.7 Million in Suit Over Firing by Cigna

A physician who charged that he was nearly driven to a nervous breakdown by the Cigna Corp. and a subsidiary, then fired without a hearing after 18 years on the job, has won a $7.7-million jury verdict against the giant insurance company.

Dr. Robert French, 51, an Irvine family practitioner, claimed in his suit that he was fired by Cigna Healthplans of California in 1991 after the company secretly compiled a file of patient and employee complaints against him. French testified that he received his termination notice when he returned from his mother’s funeral in Indiana.

After a six-week trial, an Orange County Superior Court jury Tuesday awarded French $1.197 million for economic losses and $1.5 million for emotional distress and damage to his reputation. Jurors, who deliberated less than two days, also awarded punitive damages of $4 million from the multibillion-dollar Cigna Corp. and $1 million from Cigna Healthplans of California.

In a written statement, Bert B. Wagener, president of Cigna Healthplans, said: “We care about every one of our employees. We are extremely disappointed by the verdict and we plan to appeal.”

Attorneys for the companies declined further comment.

French’s attorney, Donald K. Hufstader, hailed the verdict and called it justified.

“They destroyed his career,” Hufstader said. “There’s no doubt about it.” Before the trial, Hufstader said, the companies offered to settle the suit for $80,000.

In two suits, which were consolidated for the trial, French charged that his contract with Cigna was breached and that he was wrongfully terminated without being given an opportunity to contest or appeal his firing.

During a separate hearing to consider whether Cigna Healthplans afforded French due process when it fired him, Orange County Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald called the company’s actions “abominable.”

French, who at one time supervised Cigna Healthplans’ Laguna Hills office, claimed that as a matter of corporate policy, the company targeted him and other tenured physicians who had favorable contracts. The purpose of the campaign, the doctor claimed, was to renegotiate terms or to replace better-paid, older doctors with younger, lower-salaried hires.

During the trial, French also charged that the company compelled him to return to work despite advice from several psychiatrists who said he was suffering severe depression. He also charged that a $3,100 bonus listed on his W-2 tax form actually was withheld by the company.