Family sues insurance company, claiming they got runaround about repair coverage after sewage rained down in their home

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    LONG GROVE, Illinois (WBBM) — What started out as a plumbing nightmare dragged on to an insurance nightmare – and now, a Long Grove family is suing their insurance company because they say they can’t get straight answers about their repairs.

They told CBS 2’s Tim McNicholas all about the stinky situation.

The Clays thought they had moved into their dream home.

“I thought that it was great,” said LaShawn Clay. “It was spacious enough for my family and I.”

But they say the seller never mentioned the septic problem that would rain on their parade a few months later.

“Literally raining crap,” Clay said.

They woke up in the middle of the night to find the toilets and showers overflowing into vents going straight to the basement. So their home and personal belongings were hit with a load of you-know-what.

“One of the areas that was exposed was in the laundry room,” Clay said. “It was literally crap in the washer.”

Clay added, “And it’s not even our crap, because we just moved here.”

That was March 2020, but the repairs still aren’t done. The family blames a dispute with State Auto Insurance.

“I hate to use the word, but it was bubbling up,” Clay said.

The Clays showed us a document from State Auto putting the cash value of repairs and replacements at nearly $126,000. But the family said State Auto has only paid about $90,000, and even that was a struggle.

“The only reason I got the money was because I attained an attorney, because no one would talk to us,” Clay said.

With that same attorney, they’re suing State Auto – accusing them of breaking their contract by not covering about $20,000 in damaged personal belongings.

“It was in the cabinets. It was in the stove,” Clay said. “It was everywhere.”

The Clays say they also got the runaround from the company when they tried to get coverage on temporary housing, so they had to live, work and e-learn out of their home – where you can still catch a whiff here and there of that hectic March morning.

“It was everywhere,” Clay said.

In their answer to the lawsuit, State Auto pushes back against many of the Clay’s claims, but they say the family didn’t provide enough documentation for the personal property claim.

The company said they have no comment on this story.

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