A Long Island jury has rejected a homeowner's lawsuit against her insurance company for denying her claim for damage caused by a fire to her home that took place shortly after Superstorm Sandy hit the area.
Facts and Allegations
After Allstate Insurance Company denied Doreen Raffa-Roslan's claim for damage to her Long Beach, Long Island, home from a fire that occurred about two weeks after Superstorm Sandy struck, Ms. Raffa-Roslan sued the insurer.
Ms. Raffa-Roslan asserted that Sandy had caused little damage to her home but that she had to gut her home's ground floor after the fire. Her counsel noted that Ms. Raffa-Roslan's home was unoccupied after Sandy and suggested that an intruder may have started the fire.
Allstate's fire investigation experts, and a local fire marshal, determined that the fire had been intentionally set. Allstate's counsel suggested that Ms. Raffa-Roslan, facing the expense of repairing the flood-induced damage, which had not been insured, had started the fire to create greater damage that would allow a full renovation funded by Allstate Insurance. He contended that the flood was responsible for two-thirds of the residence's damage, and that an investigation indicated that the residence's ground floor had been flooded to a height of about four feet.
A contractor claimed that the flood's damage would have necessitated gutting of the ground floor, and he also claimed that he had conveyed that assessment to Ms. Raffa-Roslan.
In response, Ms. Raffa-Roslan claimed that the fire had occurred before she had learned that she was not insured against floods. She also claimed that her home's ground floor had flooded only to a height of 12 inches.
Result
The jury rendered a defense verdict. It found that the fire was an intentional act.
The case is Raffa-Roslan v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 605398/14 (N.Y. Sup.Ct. Nassau Co. June 20, 2018). Attorneys involved include: Mark L. Friedman; Wilkofsky, Friedman, Karel & Cummins; for Doreen Raffa-Roslan. Gerald F. Kirby; Feldman, Rudy, Kirby & Farquharson, P.C.; Jericho, NY for Allstate Insurance Co.
FC&S Legal Comment
This report is based on information that was provided by defense counsel. Additional information was gleaned from court documents. Plaintiff's counsel did not respond to the reporter's phone calls.
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Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].