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Ballard Award Bounced By
Court Farmers Insurance Group breathed easier after the Third District Court of Appeals reduced the $32 million award won by Melinda Ballard to $4 million. Ballard’s Dripping Springs, Texas, mansion was contaminated with mold and the former ad agency executive sued Farmers Insurance Group in 2000, alleging fraud and bad faith in the handling of the claim. A jury awarded Ballard $6.2 million in actual damages, $12 million in punitive damages, $5 million for mental anguish and $8.9 million for legal fees in June, 2001. It was the biggest verdict for a mold case at that time, and Ballard’s name become synonymous with mold litigation in the year that followed. Since then, thousands of mold related lawsuits have been filed in Texas and other states. A three-judge panel on the Appeals Court slashed that award to $4 million, finding no evidence of "unconscionability" or fraud on Farmers’ part, and said there wasn’t evidence to support the jury's finding that the insurer knowingly breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing. Ballard, who operates a mold related web site called policyholdersofamerica.com, said that the panel found bad faith, yet did not opt to penalize the insurance company. |
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Call (702) 615-7644 |
