O'Reilly Collins Wins $4.6 Million Verdict in Insurance Bad Faith Case

SAN MATEO, CA, April 10, 2012

On March 28, 2012, O'Reilly Collins obtained a verdict in favor of its client, Stephens & Stephens XII, LLC, and against Fireman's Fund Insurance Company for $4,673,125.10 for failure to pay an insurance claim.

Stephens' warehouse was stripped of copper wiring, causing over $2 million electrical and mechanical damages. Stephens was notified of the theft on July 1, 2007 by the Richmond police who apprehended two thieves. Stephens promptly notified its insurance company, Fireman's Fund, of the loss and asked to pay for the repairs. Fireman's Fund initially promised to pay for the claim, but changed its mind once the cost of repairs became apparent. For the next 4.5 years, Fireman's Fund inundated Stephens with useless and unreasonable requests for information. Stephens asked Fireman's Fund multiple times to make a coverage decision , which Fireman's Fund promised to make over and over. Fireman's Fund knew that Stephens needed the money to repair the property in order to rent it. However, no decision was made until one week before the trial date: claim denied.

Not only did Fireman's Fund fail to pay the benefits, but it sued Stephens for making a fraudulent claim and misrepresenting to Fireman's Fund the date of loss. For four years, Fireman's Fund hypothesized that because Stephens requested property damage coverage on June 28 and the theft was discovered on July 1, Stephens had misrepresented the date of loss.

Fireman's Fund's internal notes obtained in litigation showed that the claim adjuster believed that the claim should have been paid, but his superiors wanted him to look for a reason to deny this expensive claim. Although Fireman's Fund concluded that there was absolutely "no proof" that the theft occurred prior to the inception of coverage, Fireman's Fund failed to pay the claim and represented to the insured that the loss took longer than the 4 days the policy was in force. In trial, Fireman's Fund's expert, Jax Kneppers, testified that it would have taken 2 men 21 days or 4 men 11 days to rip out the copper.

Terry O'Reilly and Nina Shapirshteyn of O'Reilly Collins proved that there was no fraud or misrepresentation by Stephens and that it was Fireman's Fund who acted in bad faith. Prior to litigation, Fireman's Fund offered Stephens to settle the $2 million property damages claim for $100,000. In trial, the jury awarded over $2 million in repair costs and $2.6 million for rents that Stephens lost due to disrepair of the warehouse.

Counsel for Plaintiff: Terry O'Reilly and Nina Shapirshteyn of O'Reilly Collins

Website: http://www.oreillylaw.com