BREACH OF CONTRACT
DATE FILED: 10/19/05

COUNT I
COMES NOW Plaintiffs, by and through their attorney, and for Count I of their cause of action against the Defendant states as follows:
1. Plaintiffs are residents of Lafayette County Missouri now residing at the address in the caption above.
2. Defendant insurance company is now and was at all times mentioned a domestic insurance company with its home office in Jefferson City, Missouri at the address listed above and is and was doing business in the State of Missouri and is authorized to sue and be sued in the State of Missouri. 
3. The cause of action stated in this Petition accrued in Lafayette County, Missouri in that a fire consumed a significant part of the residence insured by the defendants and the defendant has refused to pay the loss of the plaintiffs.
4. On or about the 2nd day of July 2002 for and in consideration of a stated premium which was paid by these plaintiffs, the defendant made and issued a policy of insurance to plaintiffs with a stated policy period of twelve (12) months whereby the defendant agreed to pay the sum of $121,000 if plaintiff's house was destroyed in whole or in part by fire, together with the sum of $91,125 or the contents damaged or destroyed and for living expenses during the adjustment process. And for guaranteed replacement costs with inflation protection.
5. A true and correct copy of said policy of insurance # PRO 0244006 is attached hereto as Exhibit"A" and is incorporated herein by this reference as though wholly set out.
6. On or about the 9th day of July 2003, the aforesaid dwelling located at 11894 Old 40 Highway, Odessa, Missouri, was destroyed by fire.
7. At the time the policy was issued up to and including the time of the fire loss, plaintiffs were the owners of the dwelling located at 11894 Old 40 Highway, Odessa, Missouri.
8. Said policy of insurance was continuously in full force and effect from the time of its issuance through the date of the fire.
9. Plaintiffs have in all respects complied with the terms and conditions of said policy and on the 4th day of August 2003, delivered to Defendant insurance company a notice and proof of loss and on that date demanded a payment from defendant in the sum of $299,579.20 coverage provided by the policy. Plaintiff later reduced that demand to $248,887.50 in effort to settle the claim.
10. Under the terms and provisions of the policy, defendant became obligated to pay plaintiffs for the loss sustained as a result of the fire, to wit, on the 4th day of August 2003, but defendant has failed and refused, and still fails and refuses, to pay plaintiffs the sum of $248,887.50 or any part thereof, despite the demand of plaintiffs; plaintiffs are therefore entitled to
receive interest on said amount at the rate of nine percent (9%) per annum from and after the 4th day of August 2003.
WHEREFORE, plaintiffs pray for judgment from defendant in an amount that is fair and reasonable; for interest thereon at the rate of nine percent (9%) per annum from the 4th day of August 2003; for a reasonable attorney's fee for plaintiff's costs herein expended and for such other and further relief as may be warranted under the circumstances of this case.

COUNT II
COMES NOW Plaintiffs, by and through their attorney , and for Count II of their cause of action against the Defendant states as follows:
11. That plaintiffs re-allege the allegations in Count I paragraphs 1-10 as thought fully set out herein.
12. That on July 10, 2003 the defendant's agent Jeff Hudson came to the property with a representative of Regency Restoration and informed plaintiffs that Regency would take over the restoration of the house and they would do everything to restore the property to the condition it was in before the fire and that Regency would be in charge of all repairs and that the fire claim would be adjusted and plaintiffs would be made whole.
13. That thereafter Aimee Stidham a representative of the defendant told plaintiffs that she would process the claim and that a settlement would be made soon. She provided plaintiffs with inventory forms and instructed plaintiff to inventory everything in the house that was damaged or destroyed. She told plaintiffs to save all receipts and place the ones they did not know how to categorize into the living expenses file and defendant would help plaintiff sort them later. Aimee Stidham provided plaintiffs a proof of loss form with an instruction letter to plaintiffs which had the wrong instructions. A copy of a similar letter of the same date was put in defendant's file maintained by defendant, but was different from the one that was sent to the plaintiffs.
14. Defendant's agent told plaintiff that she would have all of plaintiff's clothes and linens and accessories cleaned and returned to them within a couple of weeks with all emergency items returned within 24 hours. She
informed the plaintiffs that their antiques and some household items would be cleaned, repaired and returned to them. This was not done by the defendants.
15. The adjustment process went on for seven (7) months during which time the defendant's adjuster told plaintiffs that defendant would settle the claim soon and at no point suggested that there was a problem in settling the claim. After two weeks no request was made of the plaintiffs or was plaintiff advised of any action that they needed to take. Plaintiff made several attempts to contact defendant's agent with no success.
16. That on January 4, 2004 plaintiffs made a complaint with the Missouri Department of Insurance which resulted in defendant communicating that there was a problem in paying the claim for the first time.
17. On May 25, 2004 Farm Bureau non-renewed plaintiff's policy of fire insurance. When plaintiffs tried to insure with other companies they refused to insure plaintiffs because of the unresolved fire claim which plaintiffs had to list on applications with other insurers. This action which amounted to defamation prohibited plaintiffs from regular property insurers and forced plaintiffs to insure with the Missouri Property Insurance Placement Facility which was the only place plaintiffs could get insurance. Plaintiff's status as an insurable person and entity was affected and his reputation with other insurance companies suffered.
18. That defendant has accused plaintiff of having their house built illegally according to Lafayette County Zoning Ordinances, of falsifying the proof of loss form, of falsifying their personal property inventory forms, of refusing Farm Bureau access to the property, of refusing to provided requested documents to Farm Bureau and of receiving a letter that was not actually sent to plaintiffs.
19. That a simple investigation by a neutral party would have shown that the allegations made by Farm Bureau above were false and without merit and lacking any evidence to substantiate the allegations.
20. That defendant's adjuster Aimee Stidham commenced a process of repairing and cleaning the damage to plaintiff's home on July 10, 2005. Thereafter, defendant's agent Gene Parton ten months later on May 13, 2004 reversed the process wasting all of plaintiffs time during that period
and creating more delay in the claim process evincing the intention not to process and adjust the fire loss claim in a reasonable manner.
21. Defendants filed suit for Declaratory Judgment on September 23, 2004 which caused further delay in resolving the claim and causing plaintiffs additional mental distress and suffering and further defamed plaintiffs character.
22. Defendant's refusal to pay the loss sustained by plaintiffs was and is vexatious and without reasonable cause or excuse and is in violation of the terms and provisions of said policy of insurance; plaintiffs are therefore entitled to recover penalties pursuant to the provisions of §375.420, RSMo, in the amount of twenty percent (20%) of the first One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00) due and owing to plaintiffs and ten percent (10%) of the remaining amount due and owing to plaintiffs, plus a reasonable attorney's fee.
WHEREFORE, plaintiffs pray for judgment from defendant for the sum of $248,887.50 on the policy; for interest thereon at the rate of nine percent (9%) per annum from the 4th day of August 2003; for vexatious penalties as allowed by statute; plus a reasonable attorney's fee; for plaintiff's costs herein expended and for such other and further relief as may be warranted under the circumstances of this case.
Respectfully Submitted,