A Hinds County jury found Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company must pay $26,885,275 to CHC Investments, LLC on October 23.
CHC sued Starr and Cadence Insurance in Hinds County Circuit Court on April 25, 2022.
CHC owned a building on Industrial Drive in Clinton. Starr Surplus Lines insured the property. The building is commonly referred to as the "old Delphi building." The building is 792,000 square feet.
Copper thieves started hitting the building in August 2018. As expected, the thieves stole copper and aluminum cables as well as electrical components. They even hit the two rooftop electrical rooms. The complaint states:
7. Each of the insured facility's electrical rooms has multiple feeds which enter and exit the rooms, providing the power source Jex the entire premises. Many of the components in the electrical rooms were damaged or stolen, along with the battery charging stations. Multiple cable runs were also stolen. The main incoming high voltage electrical feeds were damaged beyond repair and must be completely replaced. Each of the main feeds are approximately 525 linear feet long. The burglars also damaged a number of the electrical trays to gain access to the \viring, which must be replaced or repaired. There was damage to multiple electrical service panels and much of the electrical wiring was stolen. Copper piping supplying two bathrooms and a ao ton air conditioning unit located on the roof were also damaged beyond repair. The power and water to the insured premises cannot be restored until all of the stolen and damaged items are repaired or replaced, thus, the building is useless until the claim is paid in full.
Clinton police determined the thieves were selling their stolen wares in Jackson at 435 Allen Street. The police caught the suspects in November 2018. To the surprise of no one, the investigation determined the thieves were part of a metal theft ring. CHC notified Starr of the losses in December 2018.
CHC accused Starr of dragging out the investigation for four years. The carrier paid CHC a grand total of $388,324, an amount CHC called "woefully inadequate and insufficient." The three year-delay in paying CHC meant the company could not repair the property and thus lost prospective tenants. Although the carrier tried to claim the building was vacant, CHC said its sister company, Copeland and Johns, used the building for storage.
The complaint charged the defendant with breach of contract, negligent delay and grossly negligent bad faith in the adjustment of the claim and delayed payment,
The case went to trial. The jury deliberated and awarded the rather sizeable judgment to CHC.
The case was assigned to Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd. Attorneys David Baria and Michael Greer represented the plaintiffs while Robert Gibbs represented the defendants.
29 comments:
Obviously will be appealed & reduced more in line of actual loss. Hinds County juries in civil cases are notorious for rendering huge awards. “” Stick it to the man”.
An insurance company-defendant taking a case to a jury trial in Hinds County Circuit Court does so at its peril!
Does anyone think a typical Hinds County juror gives a rat's ass about an insurance company?
And this, my friends, are one of a dozen+ reasons property rates are as high as they are in Mississippi, especially in Hinds County.
I would love to know to what extent this was a storage facility and not vacant as there is a theft exclusion or sub-limit to vacant buildings.
An insurance defense lawyer once told me that there is no industry in America that is more corrupt than insurance companies.
Hard for most of us to feel sorry for an insurance company.
Is this the location where Milwaukee Tools now is?
How do you sue for loss of rent, when you yourself said you didnt have an executed lease. The claimant is stretching their use of it not being vacant. However, BXS/Cadence and the agent, if they truly knew it was vacant, are in the wrong for getting this policy issued. BUT(big but) I can assure you that they insured wouldn't want to pay for what it would cost to insure with it being vacant. It would quadruple the premium, if anyone would even write it. Lots to unpack here.
2:32, did you write the policy? How would you know what exclusions are in place? Do you know how much the property was insured for? 50M? 75M? The sad thing is that the insured had to sue its own insurance company for premiums it had paid for years prior to the incident.
The litigious environment is the culprit in this case. Jurors do not understand how their decision for huge awards wind up impacting their own individual insurance cost. The huge awards wind up padding the attorneys' pockets and in turn the insurance buyers pay the price for the padding.
2:10: The judgment says the court did not let the issue of punitive damages go to the jury. So, this judgment was for "actual loss."
That said, four years for the insurer to investigate an insurance claim is pretty outrageous.
It always surprises me when people jump to defend insurance companies. Question - how do insurance companies make money? By bringing in more money than they pay out in claims (simplified answer). Also, they are loaded with actuaries - extremely smart people who are amazing with numbers and charts, etc., etc.
So, they know the risks they can take and the claims they can play with. Trust me, they know this. Insurance companies are flush with smart people who understand the time value of money and economies of scale.
Also, what do you think insurance companies do with all of their profits? They are heavily invested in stocks and bonds.
Think about - you delay paying claims as long as possible, you get lucky and screw some people out of claims completely, etc. All the while, you have money earning money in the stock market. It is worth it to you to delay paying as long as possible.
What are the protections from this? Hopefully strong regulations are in place that deal with how claims are paid, when they can be denied, etc. But really, the only punishment possible is hitting them where it hurts. Money.
That's why the legal system sometimes allows for treble damages and/or punitive damages for a successful plaintiff in a bad faith breach of insurance claim.
If it's not possible to win an award for more than your claim was worth, what would prevent insurance companies from denying more people's claims (and/or delaying payments) than they already do? If all you get is the actual damages, the insurance companies will know they can screw you and at most, they will only have to pay your policy limits.
Another thing people don't think about - an insurance company can drag its feet for months/sometimes years. What do you think happens to a person's house that's sitting damaged for all that time? It could potentially get worse and worse - exposed to the elements, mold growing, etc.
Anyway, just some things to think about before jumping to the conclusion that all lawsuits are bad and that all large verdicts are bad.
Hinds County ... A World of Difference ... and A Very Special Place!
Fix must have been in--Baria posted the same exact verdict on his FB page on Oct 16 (purported verdict 10/15), yet intrepedly reported above to have been rendered Oct 23. Wonder who he got to? Also would like to hear Bubba's commentary regarding the Defense attorney's political leanings vis a vis the makeup of the jury.
He was correct. The jury issued the verdict around that time. However, Judge Kidd did not place it on the docket, which is how I had to confirm it, until yesterday.
"The litigious environment is the culprit in this case. Jurors do not understand how their decision for huge awards wind up impacting their own individual insurance cost. The huge awards wind up padding the attorneys' pockets and in turn the insurance buyers pay the price for the padding."
What should be taken from this verdict is don't do business with either of the insurers in this instance? You are blaming the insured for having to file a lawsuit instead of accepting 380k? Do the attorneys make money? Of course. If insurance companies paid claims, attorneys wouldn't have jobs. I wouldn't wish harm on anyone, but I hope you never have to sue your own insurance company if your home is robbed or burned down.
I love it. Stick it to the (insurance) man!
I see no reason to believe the jury erred based on the limited information we have. Both the insurance companies and their insureds commit wrongdoings sometimes. I assume the case will be appealed (if not settled meanwhile). If the verdict should be overturned on appeal, I am 100% confident it will be reversed. If the verdict is legally sound, let's hope it is affirmed.
RMQ
Unfortunately, the Mississippi Supreme Court won't let the verdict stand even though it should. Insurance companies are the devil. Four years to investigate a claim is ridiculous. It is clear that the insurance companies were just delaying paying the claim so they could earn interest on the money they should have paid over four years earlier. Punitive damages did not go to the jury, so this is not an "outrageous" verdict. It is simply making the insurance companies pay what they owed. If you think the verdict is outrageous, then you are simply not paying attention or don't think someone should be paid for their actual loss.
For some of you geniuses. Re Hinds County- Gibbs is black, Baria is little red headed white fellow so there goes that theory. Apparently plaintiff’s had 2 experts that appraised the damage, defense, zero. This was 100% actual damages. The defense did not even put on an expert. You get what you get.
I see the plaintiffs’ attorneys are out in full force this afternoon
With that kind of money a fella could have a pretty good time in Vegas.
Large gap between Baria and Gibbs. Go figure.
Isn't that building about 700,000 sq ft?
Didn't Milwaukee Tool lease about half of it until they moved production in 2023?
Mike Greer is alive?
Are these metal thieves' associated with the drug cartel out of Houston, Texas?
@7:35 former insurance defense atty here. Defense attorneys aren’t bad people necessarily. Adjusters and higher ups in insurance companies are scum of the earth. They screw their own lawyers as much as anyone. Hell most defense attorneys admit both of the above. If this is such an egregious verdict, why did the defense not put forth a single expert to opine that $380k was an accurate appraisal of damages? What is the jury supposed to do?
9:21, Or maybe it was the skinheads of west Jackson?
The 'Jury of one's peers' in cases like this is a joke. Every member of the jury and ever potential juror who was rejected, saw nothing more than hoping (like entering a casino) that one day his/her ship would come in and it's appropriate to 'stick it to a corporation'.
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