Palm Beach Jury Hears Dueling Accounts in State Farm Roof Damage Trial

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida jury began hearing testimony this week in a lawsuit accusing State Farm of wrongly denying a homeowners' insurance claim for roof and garage damage a couple says was caused by a severe 2023 thunderstorm.

Andrea and Scott Kalkstein sued State Farm Florida Insurance Company in 2023, arguing their "all risk" homeowners policy should have covered water damage to their garage that they say resulted from wind-driven rain entering through a breach in their cement tile roof during a September 2023 storm. Attorney Benjamin Korn, representing the couple, told the Palm Beach County jury during opening statements Tuesday that the Kalksteins never noticed any leaking before the storm and only discovered the damage afterward.

"We are suing State Farm because they did not honor the policy they sold," Korn said, arguing there was "obvious physical wind damage" during the policy's coverage period. He told jurors State Farm denied the claim after only a "cursory" inspection, and that the couple is seeking roughly $52,000 — the stipulated cost of repairing the roof.

State Farm's attorney, Brian Hunter, countered that the company's own inspector determined the water damage was "many months old" and couldn't have been caused by the storm in question. Hunter argued the storm's winds were far weaker than what would be needed to breach the tile roofing, and that the Kalksteins' own experts gave conflicting opinions on when and how the damage occurred — a question Hunter said was further complicated by a string of hurricanes that struck after the storm at issue but weren't part of the couple's claim.

The trial, before Judge Joseph Curley, is being webcast in full by Courtroom View Network and was expected to move to closing arguments by the afternoon of Sept. 2.

The case is Andrea and Scott Kalkstein v. State Farm Florida Insurance Company, Palm Beach County Circuit Court case number 50-2023-CA-009854.