CHARLESTON — The Sayer Brothers building in Logan partially collapsed; now the owners are suing Colony Insurance over the denied claim
Sayer Brothers Inc., which used to operate department stores throughout West Virginia, filed a complaint Dec. 20 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Colony Insurance Company and Brian Farrelly, alleging breach of contract, common law bad faith, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair trade. However, other news reports included statements from Logan residents that the Sayer family had been ignoring warnings about the damage to the building for years.
Sayer Brothers' building, which had been occupied by a variety of discount stores and a theater since the department store closed decades ago, sustained damage on April 26, 2019, when a brick wall collapsed. Sayers alleges the wall collapse was due to wind pressure on both sides of its building. Sayer claims after filing a claim for the damage, an engineer hired by Colony Insurance confirmed the damage was caused by wind; there had been gusts up to 37 mph that day. However, Colony denied the claim, stating the wall collapse was due to "wear and deterioration and lack of maintenance to the building." The building had to be demolished.
Sayer seeks trial by jury, requesting financial compensation to pay for the demolition of the building as well as the economic damage they have allegedly suffered, legal fees, interest and all other just relief. They are represented by Brent Kesner and Ernest Hentschel, II of Kesner & Kesner PLLC in Charleston and Robert Berthold, Jr., and Robert Berthold, III of The Berthold Law Firm PLLC in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Judge Louis H. "Duke" Bloom.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 19-C-1239