Senior paralegal Nathan Lumbard sits on the board for the Citizens for Prison Reform.
By Jeanine Matlow
Legal News
From an early age, Nathan Lumbard – a senior paralegal for Margolis and Cross in Ann Arbor – wanted to be an attorney.
“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 started 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.
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 lot in life. After he was released on probation, he was committed to life as a criminal. Even in college, he started making fake IDs.
“I didn’t believe in myself,” says Lumbard. “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 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, conducting depositions of the defendants and securing 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 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!’”
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 joined the Margolis and Cross team as a paralegal on 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.”
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.”
Lumbard has tremendous gratitude for 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 – wanted to be an attorney.
“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 started 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.
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 lot in life. After he was released on probation, he was committed to life as a criminal. Even in college, he started making fake IDs.
“I didn’t believe in myself,” says Lumbard. “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 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, conducting depositions of the defendants and securing 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 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!’”
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 joined the Margolis and Cross team as a paralegal on 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.”
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.”
Lumbard has tremendous gratitude for 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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