A Colorado jury ordered NorGUARD Insurance Co. to pay $145 million — including $60 million in punitive damages — after finding that the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary failed to approve treatment for a worker’s traumatic brain injury, according to multiple media reports.

Fermin Salguero-Quijada fell off a ladder while working as a painter in September 2021. He was working for a Colorado company in Salt Lake City at the time.

The 20-year-old Salguero-Quijada was taken to the University of Utah Hospital and diagnosed with serious brain hemorrhages. The Denver Post reported that he had no motor or verbal response, and the hospital placed him on life support.

Doctors tried to discharge him to Craig Rehabilitation Hospital, a long-term specialized rehabilitation facility, but NorGUARD reportedly denied liability for his claim, and his family members ended up taking care of him. The Post reports that Salguero-Quijada needed help with communicating, dressing, eating and other activities of daily living and required round-the-clock direct supervision.

NorGUARD reportedly argued first that it needed more time to investigate the claim and then that the insurance company for the contractor that hired Salguero-Quijada's employer should be liable for the claim.

The Denver Post reports that NorGUARD did not heed an order from a judge directing it to pay for the claim. The carrier appealed the order and lost but continued to delay and deny paying for medical care, according to the report.

Salguero-Quijada’s family sued in November 2023.

NorGUARD argued it had already paid $2.1 million for treatment in the case and that it would be paying lifetime benefits to Salguero-Quijada, according to a blog post by CVN.com, a company selling subscriptions to streaming court proceedings. The carrier also argued that it acted reasonably based on recommendations from Salguero-Quijada’s work comp treating provider, which conflicted with recommendations from doctors at the Utah hospital.

A Denver District Court jury on Wednesday found that the carrier knowingly and unreasonably denied the workers’ compensation claim.

Case information was not available from the Colorado Judicial Branch website Friday. A note on the docket search page said the site was experiencing a widespread connectivity outage.