Couple Wins $7.6 Million in Quake Damage Claim Suit

An elderly South Los Angeles couple, who sued Farmers Home Group Insurance after their earthquake damage claim was denied, was awarded $7.6 million Wednesday by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury.

“I finally got a fair shake with this insurance company,” 78-year-old Leon Robbins said after the verdict.

Kenneth N. Greenfield, an attorney who represents the Minnesota-based insurance company, said Farmers probably will appeal the verdict.

In a lawsuit filed June 4, 1996, Leon and Mittie Robbins claimed that Farmer’s Home Group acted in bad faith in denying their earthquake damage claim.

Lawyers for the couple argued that Farmers routinely denied the claims of policyholders in South Los Angeles by arguing that property damage suffered in the quake amounted to less than the homeowners’ deductibles.

“That pattern was the pattern in every case,” said attorney John Quisenberry. “It was startling.”

In the Robbins’ case, the company at first denied that the couple even had insurance.

“They told him, ‘You don’t have earthquake coverage,’ ” Quisenberry said.

Later, the company agreed to send an adjuster to the Robbins’ home, but Farmers’ adjusters were heavily inclined to deny claims rather than assess the damage, Quisenberry said.

Much of the damage was ignored or was assessed in such a way that the company did not have to make payments, he said.

“In particular, they did not go under [the Robbins’] house so they didn’t include any amount for the foundation, which was cracked,” Quisenberry said. “They didn’t look at his garage, which was damaged. They didn’t go up on the roof.”

Quisenberry said the adjusters routinely calculated damages to an amount just below the policyholders’ deductible, “then they quit writing.”

Farmers denied the Robbins’ claim in January 1995 and refused to reopen the case even after the couple provided supplemental evidence of damage, Quisenberry said.

The same jury awarded the couple $46,000 to cover damages to the house and an additional $100,000 for emotional distress.

Greenfield said there was no pattern of denials.

“There just wasn’t any evidence of that, other than the handpicked homeowners that the plaintiffs’ lawyers had come in and testify,” he said.

In the Robbins’ case, “this company felt it had hit the right number,” Greenfield said of the adjuster’s findings. “The number happened to be under the deductible, and because of that there were no policy benefits available.”