Sisters Offered $5,000 for Flood-Destroyed Home Win $18 Million Against Insurer

In February 2019, a rainstorm pushed water through the Pinon Hills, California home shared by sisters Jennifer Garnier and Angela Toft, flooding the structure and disabling the heating system and electrical wiring. Contractors who inspected the property put repair costs at more than $100,000. Their homeowners insurer, American Reliable Insurance Company, sent an adjuster and then offered $5,000.

Garnier and Toft filed suit in September 2020, alleging breach of contract and bad-faith claims handling. The case moved slowly. In October 2023, shortly before trial was set to begin, American Reliable tendered the full $140,000 policy limit, but by then the sisters had decided to proceed. The trial in San Bernardino County Superior Court ran six weeks.

Michael Hernandez of HHJ Trial Attorneys represented the plaintiffs. At trial, Hernandez presented evidence that the insurer failed to conduct a proper inspection, disregarded documentation the sisters submitted, and communicated poorly throughout the claims process. The jury was also shown evidence tying Global Indemnity Group, American Reliable's Pennsylvania-based parent company, to decisions made during the handling of the claim.

On April 18, 2024, the jury returned a verdict of $18 million. The award included $3 million in emotional-distress damages for each sister, totaling $6 million in compensatory damages. The jury added $2 million in punitive damages against American Reliable and $10 million in punitive damages against Global Indemnity Group, for $12 million in punitives in all.

The verdict drew coverage from the Los Angeles Times wire, Business Insider, and insurance-trade publication ClaimsPages, which reported the $18 million award as a notably large bad-faith insurance result against the insurer and its parent company.