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Linkin Park Lawsuit Will Proceed to Trial

A judge rules in favor of moving to trial with the Agoura Hills band's lawsuit, alleging an insurance claim was wrongfully denied a band member which prompted tour dates cancellation.

Linkin Park can proceed to trial with a lawsuit alleging an insurance claim was wrongfully denied after frontman Chester Bennington's medical issues prompted the cancellation of tour dates, a Los Angeles judge ruled Friday.

For the second time in less than a year, Superior Court Judge Ronald
Sohigian denied a motion by attorneys for Lloyd's of London to dismiss the
alternative rock band's claims on grounds Bennington did not disclose the full
extent of pre-existing medical conditions on an affidavit.

Last May, the judge said there were triable issues whether Bennington
answered truthfully when he said he had no history of a back disorder. Friday,
Sohigian said a jury should also decide whether Bennington failed to completely
disclose throat and sinus problems.

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"It seems to me Mr. Bennington answered questions he was supposed to
answer truthfully,'' Sohigian said.

Attorney Jeffrey Ehrlich, on behalf of the band, said he was pleased
with the judge's ruling. He maintained Bennington's prior throat and sinus
issues had nothing to with the lawsuit because they occurred before the policy
was issued.

Find out what's happening in Agoura Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Defense attorney Alexander Rufus-Isaacs said he was disappointed in
Sohigian's decision. He said he believed he made a strong argument for
dismissal and that the law was on the side of his client. He said Bennington
had cold symptoms 11 times during a five-year period that forced him to miss
some earlier shows.

Bennington should have provided the details of the sinus and and throat
conditions to the insurance underwriter and declared himself disabled by those
medical issues, according to Rufus-Isaacs.

"I don't see how he (Sohigian) ruled the way he did,'' Rufus-Isaacs said.

In January, the band reached a settlement with insurance broker DeWitt
Stern of Tennessee, which sold the policy to the band on behalf of Lloyd's of
London. The musicians had alleged professional negligence on the part of DeWitt Stern.

Trial is scheduled April 23 on the breach-of-contract claim against
Lloyd's, the remaining portion of the band's lawsuit filed in March 2010 in Los
Angeles Superior Court.

Ehrlich and attorney Steve Messner, who also represents Linkin Park,
said they did not know if any additional band members will testify in addition
to Bennington or whether the trial will go forward on the date scheduled.

In a sworn statement, Bennington said he had bouts with throat and sinus
issues in 2003 and 2008 that were related to colds. He said he did not
consider himself disabled by those conditions.

"I have never been informed by a doctor or other health care provider
that my sinus and throat issues, for which I have been treated, were chronic or
that any particular bout of sinus or throat trouble was related to any previous
sinus or throat problem,'' he stated.

In deposition testimony, Bennington stated he hurt himself in October
2008 while helping his 6-year-old son, Draven, build a model plane at their
Newport Beach home shortly before the band was about to go on the road.

His injury caused the band to cancel six concerts in China and Taiwan
that same month, and its members want Lloyd's to cover their losses. After
Lloyd's denied the claim, the band sued the insurance company in March 2010,
alleging breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fear
dealing.

"It felt like my pelvis popped away from my spine ...,'' the 35-year-
old singer said. "It was -- it literally felt like a giving feeling, and then
immediately with this just excruciating pain that was --- I mean, it was the
worst ... pain I've ever experienced in my life.''

Bennington said his son left him moments earlier to go eat lunch and
that he was trying to finish a wing on the plane. He said he hurt himself when
he leaned forward to reach a Tinkertoy piece.

"Because everybody was downstairs, they couldn't hear me,'' he said.  "I was, like, screaming for them to help me.''

The singer said he was unsure how much he could move without further
hurting himself. "So I managed to get myself on my hands and knees, and then
... I kind of pulled myself up to my feet, using the bookshelf, and then slowly
kind of making my way down the hall.''

He says he gave up when he got half way down the hall.

"I ended up laying on my stomach with my hands kind of underneath my
pelvis to kind of relieve that arch in my lower back and that's when I heard
they'd finally heard me, and so my wife and all my kids and grandma came
running up,'' Bennington said. "They called 911 at that point and I was taken
to the hospital.''

Rufus-Isaacs argued during last May's motion that the vocalist has had
ongoing back pain since 1998 and that Lloyd's was justified in denying the
band's $2 million claim because he did not tell the insurance company about his
condition.

Linkin Park was formed in Agoura Hills in 1996. Their debut CD, "Hybrid
Theory,'' was released in October 2000 and sold nearly 5 million copies
during its debut year.

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