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Hurricane Katrina Lawsuit Verdict

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By Associated Press

M30o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr Hurricane Katrina Lawsuit Verdict

Published: Wed, November 07, 2007 - 4:54 pm
Last Updated: Wed, November 07, 2007 - 6:05 pm

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A jury today sided with a south Louisiana
couple in the first federal trial in Louisiana against State Farm
Insurance Companies over Hurricane Katrina damage.
An attorney for plaintiffs Michael and Judy Kodrin and a State
Farm spokesman estimated the award would be about 350,000 dollars.
But U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said he'd have to calculate
the award and did not immediately issue a finding.
Judy Kodrin says they're just happy the case is over, and that
the jury was fair and just.
State Farm spokesman Phil Supple says the company is weighing
its options, including a possible appeal.
The eight-member jury was asked to decide whether wind or
floodwater was responsible for demolishing the Kodrin's home in
Port Sulphur. The couple claimed winds destroyed their house hours
before water topped a nearby river levee and flooded their
Plaquemines Parish neighborhood in August 2005. But State Farm,
which says its homeowner policies cover damage from wind but not
rising water, denied the couple's claim, concluding storm surge
destroyed the house.
It took the jury, which got the case around 11 a.m. after a
two-day trial, more than four hours to reach a verdict.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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