Haghighi

BACKGROUND

Haghighi owns a two-story, four-unit apartment building in Barstow, California.

According to Haghighi, someone vandalized the property on August 3, 2016. At the

time, only one of the units was rented out, and that tenant had been out of town on that

date. Haghighi had managed the property himself beginning in January 2016, and he

testified that from that time he stayed in a second unit two or three days a week, when he

came to the property from his home in Los Angeles. According to Haghighi, the damage

from the August 3, 2016 vandalism was profound. In addition to substantial breakage

and theft, the vandals caused flooding, including by stealing dishwashers and copper

pipes for the water heater, leaving water “spewing all over the place.” The flooding

caused, among other things, the ceiling of one of the lower units to collapse.

2 Haghighi reported the damage and filed a claim with Mercury on September 29,

2016. Mercury, based on an inspection by an adjuster it hired, concluded most of the

claimed damage was not from a single incident of vandalism, but instead “long term

water damage, incomplete repairs, and wear and tear.” It found no evidence…