Sandy Eloranto and Katie Johnson achieved a defense verdict in a bad faith property damage case stemming from the large scale May 2017 hail storm in metro Denver.
Prior to trial, Sutton Booker prevailed on a summary judgment motion, with the court holding as a matter of law that the homeowners’ policy did not cover the total roof replacement demanded by the policyholders. The team then convinced the Court to strike Plaintiffs’ untimely supplemental expert report and to limit Plaintiffs’ attempt to use a post-litigation rebuttal expert report as evidence of bad faith by the insurance company. Plaintiffs dismissed their bad faith claims on the eve of trial and proceeded to trial on the breach of contract claim.
After a 3 day trial in front of Magistrate Judge Tafoya, the jury found that the insurance company had not failed to pay additional amounts owed under the policy and Plaintiffs had not complied with their obligations under the contract and entered a defense verdict.