Posted: Wednesday, 07 November 2007 4:45PM
Plaquemines Parish couple wins wind versus water suit against State Farm
Associated Press Reporting
A jury today sided with a Plaquemines Parish couple in the first federal trial in Louisiana against State Farm Insurance Companies over Hurricane Katrina damage.
An attorney for plaintiffs Michael and Judy Kodrin and a State Farm spokesman estimated the award would be about 350,000 dollars. But U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said he'd have to calculate the award and did not immediately issue a finding.
Judy Kodrin says they're just happy the case is over, and that the jury was fair and just.
State Farm spokesman Phil Supple says the company is weighing its options, including a possible appeal.
The eight-member jury was asked to decide whether wind or floodwater was responsible for demolishing the Kodrin's home in Port Sulphur. The couple claimed winds destroyed their house hours before water topped a nearby river levee and flooded their Plaquemines Parish neighborhood in August 2005. But State Farm, which says its homeowner policies cover damage from wind but not rising water, denied the couple's claim, concluding storm surge destroyed the house.
It took the jury, which got the case around 11 a.m. after a two-day trial, more than four hours to reach a verdict.
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