Press Release

Plaintiff, a Los Angeles based small business, is a leading manufacturer and distributor of gourmet foods.  In September 26, 2006, the business suffered a serious fire in its plant.  The fire destroyed the entire inventory and equipment.

Plaintiff was insured by Travelers Indemnity of Connecticut with a business and personal property coverage.  Although Travelers paid over $3.4 million on the claim during various time periods, plaintiff’s contention was that Travelers’ payments were too little and too late for it to restore its normal operations.  The arbitrator found the delay in payment resulted in a significant disruption of the plaintiff’s business operations, impacting client relations and capacity.

Travelers forced the company to use its own money to replace inventory and equipment before Travelers would reimburse them for fronting the money.  The arbitrator found that Travelers’ policy language requiring the plaintiff to front the money to replace its inventory and equipment violated California statutory law 2051.5 requiring Travelers to pay actual cash value immediately.  The business had to borrow heavily to keep its business afloat.  The arbitrator also found that the plaintiff’s damages were a result of a “willful and malicious scheme and effort” on the part of the Travelers’ claims adjuster.

Plaintiff claimed that Travelers acted in bad faith and sought compensatory and punitive damages.  The parties agreed to have the matter resolved by arbitration.  On April 12, 2012 the arbitrator issued an award finding that Travelers’ conduct in handling the claim was malicious and despicable.  He awarded the plaintiff a total amount of $3,696,414.00 of which approximately $2.4 million was in punitive damages.

Plaintiffs were represented by William M. Shernoff, Evangeline F. Grossman and Travis Corby of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP and defendant Travelers was represented by Richard Weston and Aaron Agness of Weston & McElvain.

Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley partner Gregory L. Bentley will be speaking on how to effectively use technology in trial, as part of a Panel presented by the Litigation Section of the Pasadena Bar Association.

The event will be held at Noor Restaurant in Pasadena, at 6:00 p.m., on Thursday, April 26, 2012.

2 hrs MCLE credit | $50 Members, $60 Non-Members (cash or check at event) | Please RSVP to Debra Rose at drose@thonbeck.com

Trial attorney Gregory L. Bentley will chair the annual Consumer Attorneys Of Inland Empire Chapter of the Consumer Attorneys Of California(CAIOE) Palm Springs Seminar, which will be held at the  Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, California, on April 27 – 29, 2012.

Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley is a proud co-sponsor of the Welcome Reception, which will take place at 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. on Friday, April 27, 2012.

To register online for the event, click here.

To register via fax or mail, please download the brochure by clicking:

Palm Springs Seminar Brochure- 2012

 

REGISTRATION

 

Pre-Registration ends April 16, 2012.Fees increase $50 after April 16th. Registration includes CD syllabus, Saturday Lunch and MCLE Certificate.

 

$255 CAOIE/CAOC Attorney Member ($280 on site) $230 Add’l CAOIE/CAOC Atty Member of same firm ($255 on site) $155 CAOIE/CAOC Law Office Support Member ($180 on site) $130 Add’l CAOIE/CAOC LOS Member of same firm ($155 on site) $355 Attorney Non Member ($380 on site) $330 Additional Attorney Non Member of same firm ($355 on site) $50 Law Student ($75 on site) Free – Current Sitting Judges and Justices

 

 

Refund Policy: Refunds will be honored only if a written request is submitted to CAOC at least seven days prior to the date of the seminar and will be subject to a $50 service charge. Registration substitutions may be made only when the substituting party holds the same membership category as the original registrant.

 

HOTEL

 

  Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa 41-000 Bob Hope Dr.

 

Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 Reservations: (866) 423-1195 Room Rate: $189 • Booking Code: CAOIE12 Cut-Off Date: 3/28/12 or until the block is sold

Howard Shernoff is a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based attorney with Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP. His firm, which represents insurance policyholders, currently is suing Progressive Insurance for, among other things, allegedly acting in bad faith and inappropriately denying auto claims in California. Instead of making speedy claims payments to victims of car theft, vandalism or auto fires, Shernoff says Progressive demands that California customers making auto claims hand over a slew of documents first, and then submit to examinations under oath. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, March 15, 2012

Custom Truck At Center of Insurance Dispute

In the world of customized low-rider trucks, “More Than Evil,” a wheeled sculpture by Corona’s Roman Berber, was more than beautiful. It was an award-winner, a glossy green work of art that unfolded like a transformer, with its engraved gold rims glowing.

With its wizard mural on the hood, the truck won awards at shows in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Fontana and San Bernardino. It won cash prizes along with trophies and was featured in custom-car magazines. Trophies filled rooms in the Berber home.

Police even asked him to appear with his truck at community events to bring a positive message. Since his teens, Berber has been a member of the Legends Car Club, which does not tolerate gang membership or drug use and has a strict code for language and behavior.

But now the truck, stolen in Las Vegas in October, is the subject of a lawsuit over its value.

Berber and his mother, Olivia, who owns the title to the truck, say their 2009 Farmers Insurance policy for “More Than Evil” was for $145,000. But their lawsuit says Farmers final offer was $16,208.45 — about $800 less than the truck’s original sale price 20 years ago. The truck started out as a 1992 Ford Ranger pickup.

The suit, filed in Riverside County Superior Court in early February, seeks damages for breach of contract, plus punitive damages.

Farmers has denied all of the allegations and denied that they have injured or damaged the Berbers. An attorney for the insurance agency did not return calls Tuesday and Thursday and did not respond to an email Thursday, seeking comment.

The Berbers believe “More Than Evil” was likely sold for parts or sent out of the country. Roman said the truck was too recognizable all over the West Coast to be sold here.

‘Playing Games’

“Farmers is really playing games on the fair market value of something that is one of a kind,” said the Berbers’ attorney, Howard S. Shernoff of Claremont.

The lawsuit contends an appraiser hired by Farmers to assess the show truck’s value depreciated every part of “More Than Evil” by 90 percent. “Yet under the law in California, the ‘actual cash value’ or ‘fair market value’ of an insured vehicle may not be influenced by depreciation.’”

“There’s pictures of what they are comparing it to,” Olivia, 67, said in an interview Thursday at the Berber family home. “It would be like comparing a Cadillac to a Volkswagen. Just because it’s got wheels doesn’t make it the same.”

Roman Berber, 36, described the last incarnation of “More Than Evil,” which his parents Hector, 62, and Olivia let him take over when he was 16, as a way to keep him focused and out of trouble.

His point of reference was a picture of “More Than Evil.”

“If you look, you see right there? The body — the cap comes off the frame. And then you can tell the steering wheel’s on this (the right) side…the front end is suicided , the hood is suicided …the doors are suicided with neons…the bed goes up, you see a little bit of the Jaguar suspension. The Cadillac lights, (the) molded interior.”

And then there’s the ostrich and alligator upholstery trim, the molded-into-the-interior sound system, the 350-cubic-inch Chevy engine with a blower and custom radiator, a Toyota front-end, a Ford Explorer grill, jack suspension, the chopped top, elaborate artwork, eight hydraulic pumps, sword gearshift lever — the list goes on.

‘Almost Fainted’

The truck and its trailer were stolen sometime during the evening or early morning of Oct. 7-8.

“Less Than Evil” was in town for the huge Low Rider Super Show. Hotel parking lot space for the trailer and truck was not available, so Roman parked the covered truck on a quiet cul-de-sac near a friend’s home, locked the trailer tow bar, and went to dinner with his companions. When they returned, it was gone.

Berber’s friends, on the phone to Olivia back in Corona moments after the theft was discovered, described her son as “spinning” when he saw the empty space where “More Than Evil” and the trailer had been parked.

“I almost fainted,” Roman recalled. “I was literally going around in circles.” He initially was unable to speak on the phone and tell her what had happened, Olivia said.

Shernoff said Farmers is not disputing that the truck and trailer were stolen.

Olivia said Farmers paid for the trailer immediately, but a month went by before they got an offer from the insurer for “More Than Evil.” She said it was for $10,000.

“I said, ‘$10,000 covers the rims,’ “Olivia recalled. Farmers reviewed their offer and the next one, she said, was for $12,500, “And I go, ‘What are we talking about? The mural on the hood?’”

After more reviews and the appraisal as a show truck, Farmers made its final offer, and the Berbers decided to sue.

 

- RICHARD K. De ATLEY

Review the article here: The Press-Enterprise