A California church has succeeded in securing $340,000 in coverage from its insurance company after two claim rejections thanks to a successful lawsuit filed by Procopio litigators Sasha Selfridge and Michael Kiesling.

Our client, La Roca Christian Communities International, was on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars after an arbitrator ruled that the church hadn’t fully prepared its facility to host a Christian preparatory school. La Roca filed a claim with its insurer, Church Mutual Insurance, under its multi-peril policy, and was twice rejected.

U.S. Southern District of California Judge Dana Sabraw ruled in favor of our client, dismissing the insurer’s argument that La Roca had intentionally delayed making facility improvements, noting that “strains common sense.” “Why would La Roca have entered into the lease with [the school] only to then intentionally breach its obligations and open itself up to liability?” Sabraw wrote in his decision.

La Roca will now receive not only coverage for the arbitration finding but also legal fees incurred in the lawsuit.

Read the judge’s decision.