Local woman says AllState refused to cover her for 2009 accident, files lawsuit

GALVESTON - A local woman alleges that Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Co. failed and refused to cover her for injuries she sustained in a one-vehicle accident at a Houston high school three years ago and seeks damages, recent court documents say.

Emy Deguia filed suit Feb. 25 against the insurer in Galveston County District Court, stating the defendant denied her underinsured motorist coverage after the subject event on Feb. 26, 2009, inflicted "severe neck injuries and causing irreparable damage to her vocal cords."

The lawsuit shows Deguia was serving as an athletic trainer for Clear Lake High School at a softball tournament on its campus at the time of the accident.

As part of her contractual responsibilities, the plaintiff drove a vehicle manufactured by Deere & Co. on school property.

"While the plaintiff was driving the vehicle [as the only occupant] in the appropriate seated position, she struck a cable/wire that was attached to two stationary objects on the roadway," the suit says.

After the incident, Deguia was immediately taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital where she underwent surgery to repair her trachea/larynx and esophagus with a tracheostomy.

The physicians who operated on her discovered that she had a complete tracheal transection at the level of the cricoid cartilage and near total transection of the esophagus, the suit says.

Deguia explains she received inpatient hospital care for almost a month and outpatient care for more than two years afterwards, adding she could no longer speak nor pursue her coaching and athletic trainer career.

Clear Creek Independent School District, which oversees CLHS, and Deere & Co. were faulted for the complainant's ordeal, but are not parties in the case, rather classified underinsured "as that term is known in law," according to the suit.

It further states Deguia notified Allstate about the accident as well as fully complied with all of the conditions of her policy, but she was not paid the underinsured motorist benefits as called for by said policy.

Consequently, the plaintiff seeks unspecified monetary damages.

She is represented by attorney Charles H. Peckham with Peckham PLLC in Houston.

Galveston County 10th District Court Judge Kerry L. Neves is presiding over the litigation.

Case No. 13-CV-295