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Bryan Berard wants $18 million from insurance company that handled his eye injury

Bryan Berard wants $18 million from insurance company that handled his eye injury

Bryan Berard is leading a very interesting retirement. First, there was his turn on Battle of the Blades (he deserved to win, dammit). Then there was his adventure as a private eye, where he helped bring down two con men that swindled millions from retired NHLers.

Now, speaking of eyes, Berard's right one continues to be a problem, and he's locked in a legal battle with the insurance company that paid him millions after the retinal tear and detached retina he suffered during his playing days.

Berard was clipped by the stick of Marian Hossa during a game between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2000. It was initially feared that his playing days were over, and he received a $6 million insurance settlement from Standard Security Life the following year.

He didn't give up on returning to hockey, however, and after seven surgeries, he was fitted with a special contact lens that allowed him to meet the league's minimum vision requirement. He signed a tryout contract with the New York Rangers in 2001, which turned into a $2 million contract in 2002, at which point he returned the insurance settlement.

And now he wants it returned back to him. With interest.

From the NY Post:

But then in 2013 he hired an attorney and came after Standard saying he never should have had to repay the insurer.

He is demanding $18 million in benefits, interest and penalties, claiming the agreement to relieve Standard of future claims was a fraud.

Berard, 37, told The Post, “I’m disabled. I have no vision in my right eye.”

Standard has preemptively sued Berard.

Here's hoping it works out for Berard. By his own admission, he lost about $6 million in that con man scheme, so he could probably use the money.