Greedy Trial Lawyer
State Farm Disappointed Over $2.7 M Katrina Award - Pass The Hankies
Category: News Defused
State Farm loses big time in a Katrina homeowner lawsuit. State Farm says it is "surprised" and "disappointed" by the outcome and having to pony up $2.7 Million to the Mississippi homeowners. The Chicago Tribune provides the details.
$2.7 million judgment in homeowner lawsuitIn a court decision that could spell trouble for an insurance industry facing thousands of lawsuits and claims related to Hurricane Katrina, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. must pay a Mississippi couple about $2.7 million for damage to their home, a judge and jury ruled Thursday.
In the first jury trial over how much damage was insured in a storm that wiped out thousands of homes on the Gulf Coast in 2005, U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter, deciding actual damages, awarded $223,000 for the home and belongings of Biloxi couple Norman and Genevieve Broussard.
The jury awarded punitive damages that were more than 10 times greater, ordering the nation's biggest home and auto insurer to pay $2.5 million for wrongly processing the claim.
Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm said it was "surprised" and "disappointed" by both the judge's ruling and the amount awarded by the jury.
Then, the commentary begins.
Commentary On State Farm's Loss In Broussard v. State Farm
One measure of how surprised State Farm was by yesterday's directed verdict by Judge Senter and, later, by the jury's $2.5 million punitive damages award is this: the official docket for the case shows that on December 12, 2006 State Farm made an offer of judgment for $20,000.From the Insurance Coverage Law Blog
State Farm's offer of judgment would not mean much to me. It represents the position that State Farm was taking in this and other similar claims. Based on that position - a lack of coverage for the loss - the offer was at a level required. It would have been nonsensical for State Farm to have made an offer of judgment of, say, $500,000, even though its lawyers may have fully informed the company that a hit of $1 Million or more could occur.
I do not feel "surprised" would be an accurate description of State's Farm's reaction to the judgment. But, "disappointed" may be the understatement of the year.
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