David Phillips and Stephan Phillips v. Fire Insurance Exchange, Fire Underwriters Associates, et al.
Published: Mar. 20, 1999 | Result Date: Jan. 22, 1999 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: C9601406 – $7,500,000
Judge
Court
Contra Costa Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Robert I. Westerfield
(Bowles & Verna)
Richard T. Bowles
(Bowles & Verna LLP)
Defendant
James A. Sarrail
(Sarrail, Castillo & Hall, LLP)
Experts
Plaintiff
Barry Ben-Zion Ph.D.
(technical)
Ernest Altmann
(technical)
Jerry A. Ramsey
(technical)
Lawrence Mansbach
(technical)
Harry Hasegawa
(technical)
T.C. Cheng
(technical)
Defendant
Carol A. Arieff
(technical)
Richard A. Blanchard
(technical)
Mark G. Bonino
(Hayes, Scott, Bonino, Ellingson, Guslani, Simonson & Clause LLP)
(technical)
Paul Hamilton
(technical)
Charles D. Allen
(technical)
Larry W. Anderson
(technical)
Kevin Morgan
(technical)
Michael Yovino Young
(technical)
Facts
Defendant Fire Insurance Exchange had insured plaintiffs 11,000 square foot, three-story residence in Martinez since it was constructed in 1985. In January 1994, Fire required the plaintiffs to increase their coverage to $1.7 million for the structure and $1.2 million for the contents. The plaintiffs suffered the first of four losses on June 9, 1994, when an electrical short caused a fire in the laundry room. The house was unoccupied for the next five months while Fire obtained repair estimates. On June 10, 1994, paint was sprayed on walls and contents were vandalized. On Nov. 21, 1994, the house which still had not been repaired was completely destroyed by fire. On Dec. 25, 1994, there was theft and vandalism to some of the outbuilding and their contents. The plaintiffs brought this action against the defendants based on breach of contract and insurance bad faith.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiffs served a C.C.P. º998 about two years before trial for $12 million. During trial, Judge Robert McGrath instructed the parties to go to mediation, at which time there was a $3 million offer from Fire and a demand of approximately $7 million from plaintiffs.
Damages
The plaintiffs claimed the house would cost over $4 million to rebuild, and that they had contents of over $3 million. They also claimed additonal living expense of $33,000 per month plus damages for bad faith.
Other Information
The plaintiffs asked the jury to award between $7 million and $8 million. The defendants asked the jury to award nothing to plaintiffs, approximately $650,000 to defendants. The trial began before the Hon. Robert McGrath and was completed before the Hon. Terence Bruiniers.
Deliberation
four days
Length
62 days
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