WATERLOO - A Waverly opera singer has won a $1 million lawsuit in connection with a freak accident.

Simon Estes, 71, a world-renowned vocalist who sang for six presidents and a pope, was knocked over by a runaway van at the Sam's Club discount store on Tower Park Drive in Waterloo in October 2005.

He settled with Sam's Club and the woman who was behind the wheel. But the settlement didn't cover the full extent of his damages.

His insurance carrier, Progressive Insurance Co., refused to pay on his underinsured motorists claim, and Estes took the company to civil court.

On Thursday, a Black Hawk County jury sided with the singer.

Jurors returned with a verdict for $1.189 million, but Estes will only see a portion of that.

The verdict found Estes, a bass-baritone, suffered $9,486 in past medical expenses, $50,000 for past and future loss of body function, $80,000 for past and future pain and suffering.

The lion's share of the verdict was for $300,000 for loss of past earning and $750,000 for loss of future earnings. But the judgment in the case was capped at $300,000 because that was the amount of under-insured motorist coverage Estes held, said his attorney, David Dutton.

"It's terribly important for people to understand the limits on their policies. For someone like Estes to have such a low limit really means he's uninsured," Dutton said.

During the trial, jurors saw tapes of Estes performing, and Estes' agent from Germany testified about his career.

Estes still gives concerts but does so seated because he's unable to perform the physical activity that comes with opera, some of which are hours long.

"He can't stand for that period of time and can't do the grand gestures," Dutton said.

The accident happened when Estes was at Sam's Club where he was buying tires. He was in the store's garage talking to an employee about brakes when a woman behind the wheel of a van outside in the parking lot lost control, Dutton said.

The van was equipped for a disabled driver in a wheelchair and had hand controls but no driver's seat.

A car had parked next to the van, so the driver was unable to get to the ramp that raises the wheel chair, so the driver asked his wife to pull the van forward so he could get in.

The wife began to move the van but fell backwards, and the vehicle drove into the garage, knocked Estes to the ground, hit a tire changing machine and struck a wall, Dutton said.

Sam's Club paid a $75,000 settlement with Estes. The amount paid by the van driver's insurance company wasn't available.

Estes, a native of Centerville and a graduate of the University of Iowa, joined the Wartburg College faculty in Waverly in 2002.