CVN screenshots of plaintiff attorney Benjamin Korn (left) and defense attorney Brian Hunter (right)
West Palm Beach, FL - A Florida state court jury has sided with State Farm in a lawsuit filed by a couple claiming the insurer refused to pay for roof damage they claim occurred in a severe thunderstorm despite their homeowners policy supposedly covering it, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The West Palm Beach County jury returned their verdict on September 2nd following a two-day trial. Plaintiffs Andrea and Scott Kalkstein claim their “all risk” homeowners policy should have covered damage they say occurred during a severe thunderstorm that hit during the policy period, however State Farm successfully argued the roof leak occurred due to “wear and tear” that predated the storm.
The plaintiffs maintained they never saw any evidence of water damage prior to the September 2023 thunderstorm and accused State Farm of performing a “cursory” inspection of their property, seeking roughly $52,000 in damages to cover the needed repairs, however State Farm convinced the jury the presence of rusted nails at the leak site indicated water had been entering the roof for months.
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Plaintiff attorney Benjamin Korn of The Law Office of Benjamin Korn PLLC told jurors the thunderstorm that supposedly caused the damage was like a “mini-hurricane” and was the only plausible source of of the leak, noting the roof supposedly got a clean bill of health from a home inspector just before their State Farm policy went into effect.
State Farm argued the thunderstorm wasn’t severe enough as recorded by meteorological services to cause the damage, but Korn said the conditions at the Kalkstein’s house weren’t necessarily the same as a weather station miles away. He said the storm clearly occurred during the relevant policy period of February to September of 2023, and that wind damage is unambiguously covered under the policy.
He also urged jurors to reject the “wear and tear” argument, suggesting the metal tile roof had over a decade of life left in it.
“State Farm took their money, gave them a policy, and now doesn’t want to comply. It is time to pay and they are hiding behind these exclusions and limitations that don’t exist,” Korn said in his closing argument.
Defense attorney Brian Hunter of Chimpoulis Hunter & Riedhammer PA told jurors the Kalksteins had no idea about the condition of their roof, because nobody looked at it after the policy went into effect until State Farm’s adjuster performed an inspection after the storm.
Hunter claimed the Kalksteins first noticed damage from a roof leak after the storm, so they incorrectly assumed that’s when the damage occurred.
“Proving that damage occurred during those dates, that belongs to the plaintiff,” he said. "It’s not State Farm's burden to disprove that.”
Hunter insisted the degree of rust around nails that should otherwise still be shiny, along with other damage around the leak site, clearly showed it was not caused by wind damage but rather occurred over long period of time and thus was excluded under the Kalkstein's policy.
“The evidence shows that roof leak pre-existed September,“ Hunter said in his closing. “That leak had been brewing for many months.”
Korn and Hunter did not respond to requests for comment from CVN.
The trial took place before Judge Joseph Curley.
The case is captioned Andrea and Scott Kalkstein v. State Form Florida Insurance Company, case number 50-2023-CA-009854 in Florida 15th Judicial Circuit in West Palm Beach County.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
