PORTLAND — Maine’s highest court says the estate of a man killed in a Portland punching incident isn’t entitled to money from the puncher’s family’s insurance policy.
Eric Benson’s estate sued William Googins after Googins punched Benson in the face, causing Benson to fall, hit his head on the bricks of Monument Square and die. Googins pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and served about two years of a 10-year prison sentence for the 2010 incident.
Googins consented to a judgment of $400,000 to Benson’s estate. The estate also sought money from Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company, which had issued a homeowner’s policy to Googins’ grandmother that was active at the time of the incident.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court says a lower court was right to rule in favor of Metropolitan.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.