In November 2007, plaintiff Greg Kawai, a customs and border inspector, had water damage to his unit at the Shelter Creak Condominiums in San Bruno due to a plumbing leak from an upstairs neighbor. Repair work was done, but Kawai claimed that it was not fully paid for by the condominium unit owner’s insurance carrier, which was administered by State Farm General Insurance Co. Thus, he claimed that the carrier acted in bad faith by failing to pay for the full repair work and denying the remainder of his claims. Kawai sued State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., State Farm General Insurance Co. and State Farm Insurance for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and fraud. Kawai also originally named the construction companies that worked on his unit, Britannia Construction Inc. and Cal-Pacific Restoration, as defendants. However, after investigation, Kawai determined that the companies did not have any fault for the failure to conduct adequate repairs and never pursued any of the claims against them. Since the contractors were named, but never served, they were discontinued from the case and the matter continued to trial against the State Farm defendants only. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that damage to Kawai’s unit was reported to the insurer, but went unpaid due to oversights and cover-ups by State Farm. State Farm claimed that all covered policy benefits were paid and that any unpaid damages were the result of long-term leakage, seepage and/or mold that were excluded under the policy., Kawai claimed that he suffered emotional distress as a result of his dealings with State Farm. However, he underwent no treatment for his alleged emotional distress and did not make any medical payment claims. Kawai sought recovery of additional contract benefits in excess of $7,600, plus recovery of an unspecified amount in emotional distress and additional general damages, as well as attorney fees. Defense counsel noted that Kawai’s emotional distress claims were “garden variety,” as the claims were for general emotional distress induced by the denial of a portion of his claim, including the alleged financial hardship, disappointment and anger in the partial denial.