MIAMI – A Miami-Dade County judge is hearing the first of several lawsuits regarding a home explosion that happened two years ago.
Two years ago this month, a ferocious blast rocked a southwest Miami-Dade County neighborhood.
The force was so powerful, dozens of homes in the area were severely damaged.
Police would later discover the couple who rented one of those houses had built a marijuana grow house and hydroponics lab inside the home.
Meanwhile, many homeowners who had insurance policies with one company felt they were wronged when they were informed they were getting nothing for repairs.
They filed a lawsuit, and on Monday, the first of many lawsuits began.
"This is a very, very simple case," attorney David Gersten told the jury of three men and three women during opening statements.
Gersten, the former chief judge of the Third District Court of Appeal, is representing several homeowners against their insurance carrier, Citizens, who want to be compensated for damages to their homes.
"This case is about a broken promise," said Gersten. "When they promise to pay him for a claim, they paid nothing. We'd like to know why. Why didn't they pay (him) when he was at his most vulnerable?"
The explosion happened Sept. 22, 2012.
The house, at 6355 SW 151 Place, was condemned and demolished by the county just days after the explosion.
Miami-Dade police later said the house was being used to grow marijuana with hydroponics. Detectives found marijuana plants inside, along with lots of chemicals.
The first case focuses on the home of Jose Montes De Oca, who lives three doors down and across the street from the house that blew up.
"They do not have damage that was caused by an explosion," claimed Citizens' attorney Michael Bradford, explaining that cracks in stucco, tiles, the driveway and on the patio, were there before the blast. "These things are normal wear and tear that existed before the explosion."
Bradford told jurors Citizens didn't ignore Montes De Oca's claims, insisting Citizens inspected his home on two occasions.
The renters, identified by police as Erisbel Herrerra and Maylen Del Castillo, along with two young children, a 4-year-old girl and 6-month-old boy, were in the house at the time of the blast and fled before police and rescue units arrived.
The pair are still on the run and have arrest warrants for trafficking marijuana and child neglect.
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