Couple Seeks U.S. Supreme Court Review in Katrina Case

Lawyers for a Louisiana couple whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a jury’s award for allegations that an insurance company acted in bad faith when it denied their homeowner claim.

In March, a three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a portion of a November 2007 judgment against State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. that awarded Michael and Judy Kodrin roughly $356,000 in damages and penalties, plus attorney fees.

Jurors in the original trial had decided that State Farm owed the couple roughly $200,000 for wind damage, which was the maximum allowed by their homeowner policy, plus about $150,000 in penalties for failing to adjust their claim in a timely fashion, a lawyer for the Kodrins said.

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.

Lawyers for the Port Sulphur couple are asking the Supreme Court to review the appeals court’s ruling.

The 5th Circuit panel said the Kodrins weren’t entitled to bad-faith penalties, damages or attorney fees because the couple failed to prove State Farm had no justification for denying their claim.

Information from: The Times-Picayune, www.nola.com