A north Torrance man has won more than $1.3 million from an insurance company that declined to fully cover a claim of about $134,000 in property damage caused when burglars broke into his home, then flooded part of it when they filled the bathtub and left the taps on before fleeing. At the time of the 2013 burglary, plaintiff Steven Lopez was a single father of five kids all under the age of 12, said his trial attorney, Brian Kabateck of the Los Angeles law firm Kabateck Brown Kellner.
“It’s unbelievable how my client was treated,” he said. “Ameriprise Insurance (which wrote the policy) was working overtime to deny his claim without any proof or justification.