LA PALMA : Foundation Damage Hearing Is Denied

The state Supreme Court on Thursday denied a hearing to a La Palma couple seeking insurance coverage for damage to the foundation of their home.

Steven and Francine Brodkin sought the high court hearing after the state’s 4th District Court of Appeal ruled in January that their State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. policy did not cover the damage.

The Brodkins contended that cracks in the floor and in the foundation of their house were due to corrosive material in the soil. In their suit against State Farm, they also contended that the damage was due to negligent construction.

In the lower court, the Brodkins’ attorneys argued that their policy did not specifically exclude coverage for corrosion.

But State Farm attorneys argued that the damage was due to earth movement, an element of normal wear and tear, and therefore not covered by the policy. The Court of Appeal agreed, ruling that the policy would not cover any of the potential causes for the damage, including soil corrosion, builder negligence and earth movement.

Dozens of other La Palma residents began noticing the damage in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and suits also have been filed by homeowners in Cypress and in parts of southeast Los Angeles County.

Michael Bidart, the Brodkins’ attorney, said the decision puts 116 similar cases that he is handling in “tremendous jeopardy.”

He added that attorneys might seek to argue some of the remaining cases through other means, including a state law that requires insurance companies to inform their customers if parts of their coverage are being dropped. Some of clients, he said, originally had coverage for builder negligence, and were not told when their carrier dropped such coverage from their contracts.