Stephen King sues insurer Author says coverage after injury inadequate

BANGOR – Best-selling author Stephen King has filed a $10 million lawsuit against his insurance company, claiming it didn’t provide full coverage for the injuries he received when struck by a van two years ago.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Penobscot County Superior Court, claims that Commercial Union York Insurance Co., which has branches in Portland and Bangor, failed to honor the writer’s $10 million umbrella policy after the June 1999 accident in which King was seriously injured while walking along a country road in western Maine.

“He has had some very significant problems and continues to have them,” said Warren M. Silver, a Bangor attorney representing the author and his wife, Tabitha King. “He is having trouble, but has been able to deal with the pain, and continues to work because he is such a strong person and focused person.”

The couple will seek the policy’s $10 million limit plus interest of 1.5 percent per month, according to Silver, who in a Monday interview said the Kings’ physical and financial damages far exceed the figure.

A statement released by the Portland law firm representing Commercial Union noted that Kings’ umbrella policy is designed to cover only King’s liability to others, and specifically excludes personal injury caused by an underinsured motorist.

Commercial Union paid King $450,000 under his uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. The figure represents the policy’s $500,000 limit less the $50,000 liability settlement with the van’s driver, Bryan Smith of Fryeburg.

“Mr. King had a very serious accident and his insurance policies responded as intended,” reads the statement released by the Portland law firm of Norman, Hanson & DeTroy.

In his lawsuit, Silver said the restriction on the umbrella policy is not allowed under Maine law.

King, 53, was nearly killed in the accident when a southbound van driven by Smith struck him as he walked on the shoulder of Route 5 in North Lovell, where the author has a summer home.

King, author of such novels as “The Shining” and “Carrie,” has undergone five surgeries since the accident, in which he suffered a broken leg and hip, punctured lung, broken ribs and other injuries.

Silver said Monday that doctors likely would operate on the author again this summer.

Smith, who told police he had been distracted by his dog before hitting King, later pleaded guilty to driving to endanger and his license was suspended for six months.

Nine months later, Smith was found dead in his home after an accidental overdose of a prescription painkiller. He was 43.

King’s lawsuit states that as a result of Smith’s negligence, King “sustained very serious, substantial, and permanent physical injuries” and has “endured pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, loss of capacity of enjoyment of life, and significant lost income.”

It further states that Tabitha King “has and will suffer the loss of love, companionship, aid, affection, society, comfort, and solace of her husband.”

Despite the lawsuit, the Kings have retained their policy with the company, according to Silver.

Stephen King is one of the highest-paid authors in the world, with 1999 earnings of $65 million, according to Forbes Magazine.