Travelers Insurance appeals eight-figure award for Ryan Ferguson
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) -
Travelers Insurance officially appealed a Cole County judge's decision to award Ryan Ferguson more than $45 million for his wrongful conviction.
The insurance company filed a notice of appeal with the state's Western District Court of Appeals on October 21. Travelers Insurance will challenge applications of the law and different ways in which the trial was held that led to in the multi-million dollar award issued this summer.
The company has contested its liability in not paying out a portion of Ferguson's $11 million settlement with the city of Columbia and several police officers for his arrest and prosecution in the killing of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt. Ferguson was arrested in 2004, convicted in 2005 and released after winning an appeal in 2013.
Ferguson sued the city and several detectives that worked on the Heitholt murder case shortly after his release. He settled it in 2017, but sued Travelers Insurance for not paying more than $5 million toward that amount. The company covered the city for police liability insurance during a portion of Ferguson's incarceration.
A jury sided with Ferguson in 2024 on his lawsuit, ordering several million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages. Travelers Insurance has asked several times for a reversal of both the jury's verdict and Judge Cotton Walker's ordering of $45 million be paid on several grounds, including ways the trial was conducted and calculations Walker made on interest.
