COURT GRANTS MOTION FOR JUDGMENT NOTWITHSTANDING THE VERDICT ENTERS TAKE NOTHING JUDGMENT

Setting aside a November 2013, 10-2 jury verdict in a Hurricane Ike case that awarded over $250,000 in contractual and extra-contractual damages and $75,000 in attorney’s fees, last Tuesday, Judge Sylvia Mathews of Harris County’s 281^st District court granted National Lloyds’ Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict (JNOV) and entered a take nothing judgment.  In John David d/b/a/ House of Style v. National Lloyds Insurance Co., No. 2010-58199 (281^st Dist. Ct. Harris County, Tex. March 4, 2014), after a trial on the merits wherein the insured sought damages to their property as a result of Hurricane Ike, the jury found that National Lloyds Insurance Company had breached the contract, breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing and violated the insurance code.  They awarded $117,200 in contractual damages, $150,000 for knowing violations of the insurance code and $75,000 in attorney fees.

National Lloyds moved for JNOV arguing in part that the Plaintiff failed to segregate the covered and non-covered causes of loss thereby violating the doctrine of concurrent causation.  National Lloyds also argued that Plaintiff offered no evidence of the covered damages, or testimony that would support the jury findings of insurance code violations or a breach of the common law duty of good faith and fair dealing.  And on March 4, 2014, Judge Sylvia Mathews evidently agreed and entered a take nothing judgment against the National Lloyds.  Humberto Garcia and Jason Speights with Speights & Worrich represented the plaintiff.