Man Ordered to Repay Settlement From Jail injury Lawsuit

A judge has ordered a man to repay most of a $2 million settlement he received after claiming he was injured while he was an inmate at the Boone County jail.

U.S. District Judge Nanette Kay Laughrey this month found Derrick Houston committed fraud to obtain the settlement. He was ordered him to replay almost $1.3 million, to stop spending the money and to pay the county’s legal costs.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports Houston claimed in 2016 that he was left permanently paralyzed after suffering a fractured vertebrae in jail. A magistrate judge found the county’s insurer, the Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund, felt forced to make a quick decision to settle the lawsuit.