Texas Appellate Court Upholds Mostyn Law Victory for Hurricane Victims

HOUSTON, April 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In a victory for consumers, a Texas appellate court sided with a Texas couple today in their long-running dispute with an insurance company over damage to their home from Hurricane Ike in 2008.

The 14th Court of Appeals in Houston ruled that Candelario and Maria Fuentes are due $334,739.24 from State Farm Lloyds insurance company. The decision upheld a 2013 jury verdict for the couple in a case filed on their behalf by Houston-based Mostyn Law.

"This case should send a message to State Farm and other insurance companies that they cannot escape their obligation to pay legitimate claims when homeowners need help," firm co-founder Steve Mostyn said.

The Fuenteses filed their claim after Hurricane Ike sent a tree through their roof and inflicted water damage in at least three rooms. State Farm gave them a check for $4988.63, for the damage, plus $350 for spoiled food.

After a trial in the 152nd District Court in Houston, jurors concluded that State Farm did not properly investigate the couple's insurance claim and failed to fairly compensate them for the damage.

The appellate court rejected all of State Farms' counter arguments, including the company's assertion that the Fuenteses and their lawyers acted in bad faith by demanding far more than the initial payout. The court concluded that the couple's request for additional compensation was a legitimate attempt to resolve the matter.

"Having overruled all of State Farm's issues, we affirm the trial court's judgment," Justice Marc W. Brown wrote for the court's three-judge panel.

The case is styled State Farm Lloyds v. Candelario Fuentes and Maria Fuentes, No. 14-14-00824-CV, 14th Court of Appeals, Houston, Texas.

About Mostyn Law
The Houston-based firm is one of the country's leading civil litigation firms, headed by Steve Mostyn and Amber Anderson Mostyn. Their work has focused on representing clients who have been victims of negligence, bad faith or other wrongdoing by medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and others.

Steve, a graduate of the South Texas College of Law, is a founding member of the Texas Association of Consumer Lawyers and former president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Amber, a graduate of the University of Texas Law School in Austin, has been an adjunct professor at Texas Wesleyan Law School and at South Texas College of Law.

SOURCE Mostyn Law