Federal judge sues insurer, claiming illegal eviction from temporary home
The judge alleges his agent from Allstate slowly responded to his claim, among other complaints, after the family home was destroyed in a fire.
A federal judge and his wife have sued their insurance company, arguing that they are being evicted from a temporary home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. District Judge Gary Brown alleges an agent of Allstate Insurance set a “move-out” date of April 22, precisely one year after his family home was destroyed in a fire. He also said in a complaint filed in the Eastern District of New York that the insurer made a slow response to his claim and the judge and Allstate were in dispute over the provision of information by the insurance company.
The Suffolk County home of Brown sustained a “catastrophic fire that destroyed the home and virtually all of the Browns’ possessions” in April 2019, according to the complaint, which was filed on April 20 by Farrell Fritz partner John McEntee.
The Browns immediately contacted their insurance company, Allstate, to report the fire, but the company’s response was slow, according to the complaint.
“Allstate, for almost six months, conducted a dilatory investigation of the Browns’ structural loss claim, insisting the home was repairable before acknowledging it was not, needlessly delaying the commencement of demolition and reconstruction,” McEntee wrote. “Allstate incurred tens of thousands of dollars of so-called ‘remediation costs’ in an effort to support this assertion, costs that were charged to the Browns yet incurred only to advance Allstate’s economic interest in avoiding a determination that the house could not be restored.”
The Browns moved into a temporary rental coordinated by an Allstate housing partner after the fire, and their original home was condemned by a town inspector within two months.
But in the weeks and months after the fire, the couple had such a hard time getting the information they needed from Allstate that they filed multiple complaints with New York’s Department of Financial Services, according to the complaint.
In January, the housing company associated with Allstate notified the Browns that their “tentative move-out date” was set for the end of February, according to the complaint. The Browns replied that their new home’s construction had begun, “but given Allstate’s unconscionable delays in investigating, adjusting, and paying for the fire loss claim,” the February move-out date would not work.
A new date was set for April 22, exactly a year after the fire, but then the pandemic halted construction on the new house, according to the complaint. On March 19, one day before Gov. Andrew Cuomo would announce a 90-day statewide eviction moratorium, someone associated with Allstate’s housing partner informed the Browns that their notice to vacate had been submitted to their landlord.
The Browns quickly protested, but on March 26, the housing partner emailed the Browns and told them the furniture that had been delivered after the fire would be picked up on April 22, the same day they were supposed to move out.
The Browns have incurred tens of thousands of dollars in costs due to Allstate’s actions after a fire that was apparently related to their local power company’s negligence, McEntee argued. He wrote that the couple is owed at least $90,000 for living expenses during the delays caused by Allstate and other costs incurred by the company.
At the time the complaint was filed the Browns were still in the rental property.
Allstate did not immediately comment.
Brown was confirmed by the Senate in December. He previously served as a magistrate judge in the Eastern District, and Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump each nominated him for the role of district judge.
A judge from outside the Eastern District will be assigned to the case, Chief Judge Roslynn Mauskopf ordered.
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