An Oklahoma judge has ordered Farmers Insurance and a subsidiaryto pay a total of $15 million to three plaintiffs who filedproperty claims resulting from an EF-3 tornado that struckWoodward, Okla. in 2012, killing six people and injuring29.
|Plaintiffs Sterling Parks, Jeff and Mary Sharpe, and Kimand Linda Louthan alleged that Los Angeles, Calif.-based FarmersInsurance Inc. and Foremost Insurance Group not only underpaidclaims involving damage to their homes but also selected adjusterswhom they believed “would offer low estimates.”
|Jeff Marr, the attorney who filed the lawsuit in August 2012 onbehalf of the homeowners, says the adjuster in the Parks'claim determined the home was not structurally damaged andtherefore could be repaired, even though an engineer hired by Parksreccommended the home be torn down.
|On. Feb. 28, District Judge Ray Dean Linder sided with thethree plaintiffs, holding Farmers Insurance and Foremost InsuranceGroup liable for a total of $15 million in damages.Judge Linder awarded the plaintiffs $2 million each for badfaith and breach of duty, as well as $3 million each in punitivedamages. Additionally, the state district judge awarded $49,278.26to Parks; $224,202.82 to the Louthans; and $245,967.58 tothe Sharpes, all for breach of contract.
|When asked about the case, a spokesman for Farmers Insurancesaid the company is “still reviewing the judge's decision andevaluating [the] next step.”
|Source: The Oklahoman
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