By Jeanine Matlow
Legal News
From an early age, Nathan Lumbard – a senior paralegal for Margolis and Cross in Ann Arbor that specializes in criminal defense, personal injury and accident law – knew he wanted to be an attorney. Two shows he watched with his grandmother were pivotal: “Mister Ed” and “Law and Order.” But his path would be filled with twists and turns.
“Before working as a paralegal on Jackson v. CHS TX, Inc. (formerly known as Corizon), which resulted in a $307.6 million verdict against a private prison health care contractor, I led a very different life,” he says.
It all started back in high school when Lumbard interned with a superior court judge in Indiana where he grew up. The position – which included the probation department where he thrived and the prosecuting attorney’s office – was intended for a college student.
“At 18, it gives you a big head,” he says of the job. “I thought I knew a lot more than I did.”
Several encounters with law enforcement led to bad blood between Lumbard and the local sheriff’s department.
“I developed a very negative view of law enforcement,” he says.
A later indictment would alter his course.
“In that moment, my world unraveled, because I knew what that meant for me. I wanted to be a federal prosecutor. To be on the other side of things felt as though my life was stripped away and all those goals no longer belonged to me.”
Until then, Lumbard had no criminal record.
“I won a citizenship award at school,” he recalls. “That was the kid I was. I had a smart mouth, but I was not a rule-breaker. I was a rule-follower. I didn’t even drink.”
In a panic, he fled to Mexico.
“I snuck out of the courthouse while the jury was deliberating,” says Lumbard. “It was very selfish. I grew up very sheltered and somewhat privileged and I didn’t handle adversity well.”
When Lumbard was apprehended, he accepted his new lot in life. After he was released on probation, Lumbard was committed to living his life as a criminal. Even as he returned to college, he started making fake IDs.
“I didn’t believe in myself,” says Lumbard, who would soon find himself in trouble again. “I had a ‘Catch Me If You Can’ mentality.”
Lumbard became a federal fugitive a second time when on the run for passport fraud and identity theft. He built a new life in Southeast Asia where he taught at a university and later held an executive position at a high-profile company.
“After being featured on ‘America’s Most Wanted,’ Burmese intelligence located and detained me,” he explains. “I spent over four months imprisoned for espionage before being returned to the United States.”
During his incarceration, Lumbard experienced serious neurological symptoms, such as vision loss, balance issues, and difficulty walking.
“My repeated requests for medical care were ignored,” he says. “I was eventually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but only after significant progression. When I entered the Michigan Department of Corrections, I was denied the neurologist-recommended treatment and eventually required a wheelchair.”
With no legal training, Lumbard filed a pro se deliberate indifference lawsuit under §1983 from prison where he conducted depositions of the defendants and secured a significant settlement against a county jail.
“However, the court dismissed my claims against the private prison health care contractor Corizon because I could not establish a policy or practice under Monell—specifically, that care was being denied to save money,” he explains.
After his release, Lumbard returned to school at the encouragement of the presiding magistrate judge, Ray Kent, earning a legal studies degree from Purdue Global.
“Judge Kent took the time after my settlement conference to give me advice that I credit with turning my life around,” he says. “He suggested I go to law school, an idea I found laughable at that moment. When I began to list the reasons why that wasn't possible for me—numerous felony convictions, being an international fugitive featured on AMW—he abruptly interrupted me. ‘If I could give you one piece of advice, Mr. Lumbard, it's this: continue on this path you find yourself on until someone tells you to stop, then keep going!’”
Around the same time, a new MS treatment allowed Lumbard to walk again. And then, civil rights attorney Ian Cross from Margolis and Cross contacted him after finding Lumbard’s case while preparing for litigation against Corizon in the Jackson matter.
Lumbard subsequently joined the Margolis and Cross team as a paralegal on what became Jackson v. CHS TX, Inc.
“In that role, I located and secured testimony from former medical professionals employed by the company,” he explains. “These witnesses described systemic pressure (to put it mildly) to deny or delay necessary medical care to reduce costs. Their testimony was central to the case.”
Remarkably, the corporate representative at trial was the same physician who had denied Lombard his MS treatment years earlier.
“After the verdict, I approached her, reintroduced myself and reflected on the full-circle nature of the case by thanking her,” Lumbard recalls. “I then informed her that if it wasn’t for that day, this day would never have happened to her.”
Despite all the hard lessons, Lumbard – who now sits on the board for the Citizens for Prison Reform and recently scored in the 93rd percentile on the JD-Next – has tremendous gratitude for the people who got him back on track.
“Ian (Cross) took a chance on me; he is an outside-the-box thinker who is truly brilliant,” he says. “Judge Kent gave me a purpose and allowed me to believe in myself again. Sometimes we overlook the power we have in other people’s lives.”
Legal News
From an early age, Nathan Lumbard – a senior paralegal for Margolis and Cross in Ann Arbor that specializes in criminal defense, personal injury and accident law – knew he wanted to be an attorney. Two shows he watched with his grandmother were pivotal: “Mister Ed” and “Law and Order.” But his path would be filled with twists and turns.
“Before working as a paralegal on Jackson v. CHS TX, Inc. (formerly known as Corizon), which resulted in a $307.6 million verdict against a private prison health care contractor, I led a very different life,” he says.
It all started back in high school when Lumbard interned with a superior court judge in Indiana where he grew up. The position – which included the probation department where he thrived and the prosecuting attorney’s office – was intended for a college student.
“At 18, it gives you a big head,” he says of the job. “I thought I knew a lot more than I did.”
Several encounters with law enforcement led to bad blood between Lumbard and the local sheriff’s department.
“I developed a very negative view of law enforcement,” he says.
A later indictment would alter his course.
“In that moment, my world unraveled, because I knew what that meant for me. I wanted to be a federal prosecutor. To be on the other side of things felt as though my life was stripped away and all those goals no longer belonged to me.”
Until then, Lumbard had no criminal record.
“I won a citizenship award at school,” he recalls. “That was the kid I was. I had a smart mouth, but I was not a rule-breaker. I was a rule-follower. I didn’t even drink.”
In a panic, he fled to Mexico.
“I snuck out of the courthouse while the jury was deliberating,” says Lumbard. “It was very selfish. I grew up very sheltered and somewhat privileged and I didn’t handle adversity well.”
When Lumbard was apprehended, he accepted his new lot in life. After he was released on probation, Lumbard was committed to living his life as a criminal. Even as he returned to college, he started making fake IDs.
“I didn’t believe in myself,” says Lumbard, who would soon find himself in trouble again. “I had a ‘Catch Me If You Can’ mentality.”
Lumbard became a federal fugitive a second time when on the run for passport fraud and identity theft. He built a new life in Southeast Asia where he taught at a university and later held an executive position at a high-profile company.
“After being featured on ‘America’s Most Wanted,’ Burmese intelligence located and detained me,” he explains. “I spent over four months imprisoned for espionage before being returned to the United States.”
During his incarceration, Lumbard experienced serious neurological symptoms, such as vision loss, balance issues, and difficulty walking.
“My repeated requests for medical care were ignored,” he says. “I was eventually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but only after significant progression. When I entered the Michigan Department of Corrections, I was denied the neurologist-recommended treatment and eventually required a wheelchair.”
With no legal training, Lumbard filed a pro se deliberate indifference lawsuit under §1983 from prison where he conducted depositions of the defendants and secured a significant settlement against a county jail.
“However, the court dismissed my claims against the private prison health care contractor Corizon because I could not establish a policy or practice under Monell—specifically, that care was being denied to save money,” he explains.
After his release, Lumbard returned to school at the encouragement of the presiding magistrate judge, Ray Kent, earning a legal studies degree from Purdue Global.
“Judge Kent took the time after my settlement conference to give me advice that I credit with turning my life around,” he says. “He suggested I go to law school, an idea I found laughable at that moment. When I began to list the reasons why that wasn't possible for me—numerous felony convictions, being an international fugitive featured on AMW—he abruptly interrupted me. ‘If I could give you one piece of advice, Mr. Lumbard, it's this: continue on this path you find yourself on until someone tells you to stop, then keep going!’”
Around the same time, a new MS treatment allowed Lumbard to walk again. And then, civil rights attorney Ian Cross from Margolis and Cross contacted him after finding Lumbard’s case while preparing for litigation against Corizon in the Jackson matter.
Lumbard subsequently joined the Margolis and Cross team as a paralegal on what became Jackson v. CHS TX, Inc.
“In that role, I located and secured testimony from former medical professionals employed by the company,” he explains. “These witnesses described systemic pressure (to put it mildly) to deny or delay necessary medical care to reduce costs. Their testimony was central to the case.”
Remarkably, the corporate representative at trial was the same physician who had denied Lombard his MS treatment years earlier.
“After the verdict, I approached her, reintroduced myself and reflected on the full-circle nature of the case by thanking her,” Lumbard recalls. “I then informed her that if it wasn’t for that day, this day would never have happened to her.”
Despite all the hard lessons, Lumbard – who now sits on the board for the Citizens for Prison Reform and recently scored in the 93rd percentile on the JD-Next – has tremendous gratitude for the people who got him back on track.
“Ian (Cross) took a chance on me; he is an outside-the-box thinker who is truly brilliant,” he says. “Judge Kent gave me a purpose and allowed me to believe in myself again. Sometimes we overlook the power we have in other people’s lives.”
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