The town of Braintree’s municipal insurer must cover about $6.05 million of the $14.9 million the town paid Fred Weichel, who spent 36 years in prison for a 1980 murder he did not commit, a Suffolk Superior Court judge has ruled. Judge Peter B. Krupp of the Business Litigation Session found that Weichel’s wrongful imprisonment was a continuing “occurrence” under the insurer’s law enforcement liability policies, even though the insurer did not cover the town until 2002. He rejected the town’s claim that the insurer acted in bad faith. Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reported the 18-page decision, Town of Braintree v. MIIA Property & Casualty Group, Inc., on October 27, 2026.
The case shows how a town pays for a wrongful conviction when its police misconduct happened decades before the insurance policies it is relying on, and why the state’s own exposure for the same wrongful conviction was capped at $1 million.
The wrongful conviction
- The murder and the report. Robert LaMonica was killed in Braintree in 1980. According to Lawyers Weekly’s account of the court record, a Braintree detective received a call that day from someone who said a composite sketch of the suspect depicted Rocco Balliro, a convicted murderer then on furlough, and 10 Bridgewater prison guards confirmed the resemblance. The detective’s report, known as the “Leahy Report,” stayed in local police files and was never forwarded to the State Police or prosecutors.
- Exoneration. Weichel was convicted in 1981. Braintree police produced the report years later in response to public records requests by his lawyers in 2010 and 2013, Lawyers Weekly reported, and he was exonerated in 2017, according to 7News and Insurance Journal.
- The lawsuits. Weichel sued the town in federal court in 2020. A Suffolk jury awarded him $33 million against the Commonwealth in 2022, but his recovery from the state was limited to $1 million. Braintree agreed on September 19, 2024 to pay him $14.9 million. “Mr. Weichel spent 36 years in prison for a crime he did not commit,” Mayor Erin V. Joyce said at the time, adding that the town would pursue its insurers.
What the judge decided
The town sued MIIA Property & Casualty Group, a self-insurance group for Massachusetts cities and towns, which had insured Braintree from July 2002 until after Weichel’s release. MIIA had paid the town’s defense under a reservation of rights but disputed that it owed any part of the settlement. The town said MIIA owed 40.62 percent, or $6,052,380, based on its share of the years of coverage. According to Lawyers Weekly:
- A continuing occurrence. MIIA argued the town could not show a bodily injury during its 2002 to 2017 policy period because the misconduct happened in 1980. Krupp disagreed as to Weichel’s claims of health problems from prison: “Under the plain language of the contract, Weichel’s wrongful imprisonment was a continuing ‘occurrence’ arising from the Town’s law enforcement activities.”
- Personal injury coverage. The policies also covered “personal injury,” including claims for detention, imprisonment and civil rights violations. Krupp found the settlement was based in part on alleged post-conviction misconduct, the town’s failure to respond to Weichel’s lawyers’ records requests, which triggered that coverage.
- Exclusions rejected. MIIA argued the town knew of the wrongful imprisonment before its policies began and that officers “willfully” violated the law. “MIIA has failed to show that the Town or its police officers knew of the injury before the contract period,” Krupp wrote, noting that an investigation by the town’s law firm found no evidence that officers knew the evidence was withheld.
- Time on the risk. Because the settlement covered several kinds of harm and could not be divided by harm, Krupp found that “the time-on-the-risk method of allocation is appropriate here.” Lawyers Weekly reported that nine of the town’s ten insurers from 1981 to 2017 had paid their shares and only MIIA refused, according to the town’s brief.
- No bad faith. The town also claimed MIIA violated G.L. c. 93A by denying coverage and offering only $1 million. Krupp assumed without deciding that MIIA could be liable under c. 93A, but ruled the town could not show deception because MIIA relied on a “plausible, reasonable legal position.”
MIIA’s lawyer did not respond to Lawyers Weekly’s request for comment, and the town’s lawyer declined to comment. It was not reported whether MIIA will appeal.
The law behind the ruling
- Time on the risk comes from the SJC. In Boston Gas Co. v. Century Indemnity Co., 454 Mass. 337 (2009), a long-running pollution case, the Supreme Judicial Court held that liability for a long-term loss spread over many policy years “should be prorated,” and adopted “the time-on-the-risk method of prorating liability in the absence of evidence more closely approximating the actual distribution of property damage.” Under that method, each insurer pays in proportion to the time it was on the risk.
- Why the state paid only $1 million. Wrongful conviction claims against the Commonwealth run through G.L. c. 258D. Section 5(A) says “the total liability of the commonwealth for any judgment entered under this chapter shall not exceed $1,000,000,” and bars punitive damages and interest. That is why a $33 million jury verdict against the state became a $1 million recovery.
- No cap for towns on civil rights claims. Weichel’s suit against Braintree was a federal civil rights and malicious prosecution case, and no state cap like c. 258D’s applies to it, which left the town to negotiate a larger settlement. Town Council President Charles B. Ryan called for a liability cap for municipalities like the one the state has for itself, Insurance Journal reported.
- Self-insurance groups. Under G.L. c. 40M, § 1, a municipal self-insurance group approved by the insurance commissioner “shall not be deemed to be insurers or insurance companies” and is not subject to the state’s insurance laws except as the chapter provides. MIIA relied on that to argue it was not subject to the unfair claim settlement rules of c. 176D. The judge did not resolve the question.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Fred Weichel?
Frederick Weichel was convicted of the 1980 murder of Robert LaMonica in Braintree and spent 36 years in prison. His conviction was overturned in 2017 after a police report pointing to another suspect came to light. Braintree agreed in 2024 to pay him $14.9 million.
How much will Braintree’s insurer pay?
Judge Peter B. Krupp ruled that MIIA Property & Casualty Group must indemnify the town for about $6.05 million, or 40.62 percent of the settlement, its share based on time on the risk. The judge rejected the town’s claim for bad faith damages under G.L. c. 93A.
How much can you get for a wrongful conviction in Massachusetts?
A claim against the Commonwealth under G.L. c. 258D is capped at $1 million, with no punitive damages or interest. Claims against cities, towns or individual officers under federal civil rights law are not subject to that cap.
Sources: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, October 27, 2026 (Town of Braintree v. MIIA Property & Casualty Group, Inc., Lawyers Weekly No. 09-104-26); 7News (WHDH) and Insurance Journal, September 2024. Boston Gas Co. v. Century Indemnity Co., 454 Mass. 337 (2009), read on CourtListener. G.L. c. 258D, § 5 and c. 40M, § 1 read at malegislature.gov. General information, not legal advice.