A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury on Wednesday awarded $7.1 million to former Los Angeles Times sports columnist T.J. Simers, who contended he was pushed out of his decades-long career because of his disability and age.

The columnist, 65, sued the Times in 2013, claiming he was fired after he suffered a minor stroke while covering the Dodgers’ and Angels’ spring training in Arizona.

“The jury got it right in this type of case,” said his attorney, Carney Shegerian. “Mr. Simers has had a long, amazing career at the Times, and his columns and articles were phenomenal until he had this on-the-job mini stroke in Arizona.”

Simers was a sports columnist for The Orange County Register from September 2013 to June 2014.

In an interview with the Register on Wednesday after the six-week trial, Simers, who joined the Times in 1990, said he was “beaten up” and “blindsided” by his experience.

“I was 62 and I had gotten sick and it became clear that I was not part of their larger picture,” Simers said.

Simers said he sued as a way to help other journalists in an industry plagued by buyouts and layoffs of longtime employees in favor of younger, cheaper talent.

“I’ve been a journalist for 40-plus years and I’ve just been saddened by what has happened with the L.A. Times and other newspapers across the country,” he said. “I did this for other journalists.”

Simers said he hopes the verdict can send a message to newspapers about the importance of keeping journalists with institutional knowledge.

“Take an extra minute to think about what you’re doing to professional people who have worked really hard to be good at their craft,” he said. “At any minute it feels like the rug could be pulled out from under you, and it shouldn’t be that way.”

Simers said he was diagnosed with complex migraine syndrome, which he said the Times used as an excuse to cut back on his columns and demote him.

The Times plans to appeal.

“Our editors acted to protect the integrity of the newspaper and to uphold fundamental principles of journalistic ethics. We will continue to work through the legal system to resolve this matter,” Hillary Manning, a spokeswoman for the Times, was quoted as saying in a Times story.

The Times argued it demoted Simers after he used his column and an online video to promote a business run by a friend, with whom Simers hoped to develop a TV show.

The Times said it allowed Simers to stay at the paper on his $234,000-a-year salary and that when it offered him a one-year contract he resigned and took a job at the Register.

Simers was awarded $5 million for emotional distress and $2.1 million in lost wages, Shegerian said.

Courthouse News Service contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: kpuente@ocregister.com