Aaron Hernandez's Insurance Company: We Won't Pay for Florida Shooting

Now that former NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez is on his way to a life sentence for murder, more legal matter tied to the ex-player's violent lifestyle are starting to come to light. One situation — a shooting of a Hernandez friend in South Florida after a night at Tootsie's Cabaret —...

By Kyle Swenson

May 8, 2015

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Now that former NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez is on his way to a life sentence for murder, more legal matters tied to the ex-player's violent lifestyle are starting to come to light. One situation — a shooting of a Hernandez friend in South Florida after a night at Tootsie's Cabaret — could prove to particularly problematic. Hernandez is facing a hefty civil lawsuit thanks to the incident. Recently, Hernandez's insurance company filed paperwork trying to wash its hands of the case.

The Lexington Insurance Co. filed a lawsuit this week in Massachusetts against both Hernandez and Alexander Bradley. In a separate lawsuit in Miami-Dade court, Bradley claims Hernandez shot him and left him for dead in South Florida following a night on the town in February 2013 — an eerie precursor to the murder four months later of Odin Lloyd.

The insurance company's lawsuit is basically an attempt to say Lexington has no right to defend — or pay — for Bradley's claims against the former tight end.

The firm says it doesn't have to defend Hernandez against the charges because the former NFL player has refused to sit down for an interview with the company's representatives to figure out what exactly happened.

Courthouse News documents a series of letters Lexington fired off to Hernandez's attorney to get more information on the case — letters that were ignored (to be fair, Hernandez was preparing for the court fight for his life).

The company is also claiming that Hernandez's policy with the company covers onlyaccidents; pointing a gun at your buddy and pulling the trigger doesn't exactly stack up. Bradley claims that he and Hernandez got into a verbal altercation during a night out at Tootsie's in 2013. The two men left the club together, they drove north to Palm Beach. Hernandez then allegedly pulled out a gun a shot at Bradley.

The gun blast seriously injured Bradley's eye, and he's since lost the use of his right one. A year later, Bradley was shot again outside a club in Connecticut. He survived the second shooting as well.

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