Facts

Plaintiffs in this case were sisters named Angela Toft and Jennifer Garnier. In 2019, there was a major flood in San Bernardino that nearly destroyed their house. The crawlspace was filled with mud which destroyed the HVAC system. The electrical was also run in the crawlspace which was partially destroyed. Half of the electrical in the house did not work. Small cracks started to form throughout the house. The sisters filed an insurance claim with American Reliable (ARIC). ARIC was run by its parent corporation, Global Indemnity.

Global paid money for alternate living and personal property, but only paid about $5,000 for damage to the house. This included money for paint, trim and HVAC. The sisters knew this would not fix all the problems, especially because the crawlspace would need to be excavated before they were able to fix the HVAC. Global disagreed and would not issue any more checks even though the sisters gave them multiple estimates from contractors that showed it was over $100,000 worth of damage. As a result, the sisters had to live in a house without heat for the last five winters, where it often snows. During depositions in 2023, Global said it was the first time that they learned that the sisters did not have heat and the crawlspace was missed. They agreed to pay for it and said it was an accident that their insurance adjuster missed. This was three months before the trial date was set (later continued). Global paid the full policy limits of $140,000 in October 2023.

Result

The jury awarded $6 million ($3 million to each Plaintiff) for past non-economic harm (i.e., emotional harm), and also found Defendants had acted with "malice, oppression, or fraud" such that punitive damages were warranted. The jury returned a verdict of an additional $12 million in punitive damages.

Length

6 weeks