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SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

Jury verdict favors State Farm in Fort Bend Co. woman's plumbing leak case

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State Farm Lloyds has earned a defense verdict in a plumbing leak case brought against it more than a year ago by a Fort Bend County woman, recent Houston federal records show.

Bernice Barclay sued State Farm on Oct. 8, 2014 in the Fort Bend County Civil Court at Law Number 1 after her home foundation suffered water damage in late December 2012.

According to Barclay, she was told that State Farm “provided certain coverages to the insured property,” however, the defendant has a “pattern of denying and delaying payment to valid insurance claims.”

“The defendant State Farm failed to perform failed to perform its contractual duty to adequately compensate the injured party under the terms of the policy,” the original petition states.

The Houston Division of the Southern District heard the litigation in mid-June with the trial lasting a day and one-half.

United States District Court Judge Gray H. Miller instructed jurors to answer whether the aforementioned damage was “caused by seepage or leakage of water from within a plumbing system of the home.” A “No” reply was submitted, per a court document filed June 28.

Attorney Eric Dick of The Dick Law Firm in Houston represented Barclay while Brian M. Chandler of the law firm Ramey, Chandler, Quinn & Zito, P.C. in Houston served as State Farm’s lead counsel.

Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case No. 4:14-CV-3649

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