After 13 months, this Houston homeowner is still living in a gutted house while battling his insurance company.
HOUSTON — A Houston man has been locked in a back-and-forth battle with his insurance company for a year after an explosion sent thousands of gallons of water rushing into his home.
We have covered Kevin Jennings’s story for nearly a year. He said he is fed up with waiting for answers.
Jennings said he turned to legal action against Progressive and Homesite, who have said they are not responsible for covering the damages.
Recently, Jennings took us around his home to see the damages and where things stand more than a year after everything happened.
“This is where my countertop was. Of course, there’s nothing here now,” Jennings said.
As we walked through Jennings’s Northeast Houston home you might think a renovation project is underway based on how much has been ripped up to keep mold from growing.
“Everything was exactly how I wanted it,” Jennings said.
Let’s just say that’s no longer the case.
“It’s been almost 13 months now and we’re still in the same situation and my home is still in disrepair,” Jennings said.
Jennings shows us where sheetrock has been removed, temporary doors have been installed and floors are ripped up and gone.
“[The material on the ground level floor and a few steps] was all coming up because of the water that got on it and coming in and out. It all had to be torn up,” Jennings said.
Jennings said the destruction is a direct result of thousands of gallons of water coming from a nearby Municipal Utility District water tank when it exploded.
Surveillance video showing what the MUD’s legal team confirmed in a document, which is an explosion led to the destruction of the tower next to the Jennings’s backyard exploded.
However, the MUD District claimed governmental immunity, which relieves them from responsibility for the damage(s).
“[The situation is] rare, but that’s why that you get insurance for, for rare situations like this, and I thought that I would be covered by this,” Jennings said.
Jennings found out that wouldn’t be the case.
His insurance claim with Progressive and Homesite was denied despite his policy saying his plan covers damage(s) by an explosion.
So, Jennings has taken Progressive and Homesite to court.
“I don’t understand why, why would they do my family like this,” Jennings said.
We went to get an answer. Richard Weaver is a local real estate attorney. Weaver is not affiliated with this case but has handled similar ones.
“Now these cases how long do they take,” KHOU 11 Reporter Amanda Henderson asked.
“In a court of law, they can take up to 2 years,” Weaver said.
“Why is that” Henderson asked.
“Well, courts set the deadlines,” Weaver said. “When there’s multiple parties involved like multiple defendants, municipal utility districts, or the insurance companies, there’s a lot of facts that need to be found and for that reason cases just take longer.”
Currently, the Jennings’ next court date is in December.
Kevin said part of their frustration is the MUD tank was built after they moved into their home. They had previously been told there would be a park installed.
Weaver explained if there’s anything you can do now to protect yourself should something unexpected be built in your area.
“Talk to an attorney and or their insurance agent and ask them if there’s anything to worry about,” Weaver said.
That discussion is something Jennings agrees can be vital.
“They need to do a better job and they need to be stipulations on how on what they can do in case of an explosion like they should have had this where so the water would all drain somewhere,” Jennings said.
KHOU 11 did reach out for weeks to both Progressive and Homesite about the case. They said they can’t comment due to the pending litigation. However, according to publicly available legal documents the insurance team said the Jennings’ policy didn’t cover water damages, which could be determined as standing water, a flood, etc.
The Jennings’ neighbor’s home was also flooded. However, they have a different insurance company.
When the legal team representing the MUD district switched their wording to call what happened an explosion instead of an implosion, the neighbor’s home was fixed. The Jennings were hopeful the same thing would happen for them but as of right now it has not.
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