Client Vs Domestic Insurance Company
- Cascade Law
- Oct 24, 2025
- 2 min read
More than six years ago, I met a woman who was attacked by her ex-husband in 2014 when she went to her ex-husband’s house to pick up their daughter. The ex-husband attacked her, set her on fire, and left her for dead.
The woman survived but suffered massive injuries including a permanent brain injury and painful scarring over much of her body. The ex-husband was convicted of attempted murder, arson, and assault—all enhanced with a finding of “domestic violence.”
The fire also destroyed the house—a house that the woman had recently left to escape the ex-husband. The house had been awarded to the ex-husband in the divorce a couple months earlier, but the woman remained on the deed and the insurance policy. It was the former couple’s only real asset. One of the motives for the ex-husband’s attack was to avoid the financial obligations he made in exchange for the house.
The insurance company learned about the attack only days later from the fire marshal. They saw immediately that the woman was on the policy.
Yet, after multiple roundtables involving no less than three lawyers, the insurance company denied all coverage to the woman. They internally decided that because the woman and her attacker were divorced, the ex-husband’s attack did not meet the definition of “domestic abuse.”
After fighting at the trial court for years, we had to appeal to the higher courts. That process took yet another year--all the while my client worked two jobs just to barely make ends meet.
She finally won on September 3, 2024--exactly one year ago today. The appellate court ruled the insurance company violated the policy by denying her coverage and finding that violence between ex-spouses is domestic abuse for the purpose of insurance.
The opinion can be found by following this link:
Even after winning though, the insurance company kept fighting the case, so we pushed and pushed for a trial. Then, earlier this year, they finally broke and we reached a settlement with the insurance company--more than six years after I started working on the case.
There is a saying in the law that "the wheels of justice move slowly, but grind exceedingly fine." That was true in this case.
My client is an incredible, amazing human with unmatched perseverance. I have been so honored to walk beside her in this journey, along with my very good friends and co-counsel, Wells Trumbull, and Jim Sorrels.
Although this video is old and doesn't directly relate to the insurance claim, it tells a bit about the person who has made our state a better place for survivors of domestic abuse:
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