GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A federal judge in Michigan upheld a $1.6 million judgment against former Detroit Red Wings forward Kevin Miller for a hit from behind during a 2000 Swiss league game that ended another player’s career.
U.S. District Judge Gordon Quist in Grand Rapids ruled in favor of a Swiss insurance company. The insurer had asked the court to recognize a Swiss court’s $1.1 million judgment, which increased to $1.6 million with interest and costs.
Quist said in Thursday’s ruling that his court was following the Uniform Foreign-Country Judgments Recognition Act.
Miller’s hit on Canadian national Andrew McKim caused McKim to fall forward and strike his head on the ice. He was hospitalized for weeks with a concussion and other injuries.
Miller previously refused to pay the Swiss court’s judgment.
It’s unclear how the case might influence a lawsuit filed in Canada, stemming from a hit that ended the career of former Colorado Avalanche center Steve Moore. Moore is suing Todd Bertuzzi and the Vancouver Canucks for $38 million for a 2004 on-ice hit in which Moore sustained a concussion and three fractured vertebrae.
Bertuzzi was suspended for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, which cost him about $502,000, and he didn’t play during the 2004-05 lockout season. But he was reinstated for the 2005-06 campaign and has since continued his career, most recently with Detroit.
Bertuzzi also pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of assault causing bodily harm and was sentenced in 2006 to a year of probation and 80 hours of community service.
A trial date in that case has been set for Sept. 8 in Toronto.
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