Bruce v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company
Aug 09, 2019OUTCOME: $700,000 settlement
Obtained a $700,000.00 settlement on behalf of a Seattle policyholder in a lawsuit challenging her homeowner’s insurance company’s refusal to cover damage to her house. The insured maintained what she ... thought was excellent insurance coverage for her property in order to protect her investment. After a sewer main backup caused raw sewage to flood the entire house, she called her homeowner’s insurance company seeking help cleaning up the sewage and restoring the property. The insurance company denied coverage without even looking at the house or investigating the damage. Without insurance coverage, the insured had to spend months working around the clock to clean up the sewage flooding and resulting damage, including rampant mold growth. After cleaning up the sewage flooding, the policyholder called her insurance company back to ask for help restoring the home, which, by this point, needed significant work to replace the sewage-covered flooring, sheetrock, drywall and fixtures she had removed. Her insurance company denied coverage again. This time, they blamed the owner for cleaning up the sewage flooding before the insurance company inspected the property – even though the insurance company had refused to inspect the property when the owner reported the flood months before. The insurance company also told the owner there was no proof that sewage damaged the property or that she had done any work to clean up the sewage.
