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Shannen Doherty was once nearly evicted from a rental home and forced to sleep on her mother's couch due to State Farm's failure to pay for repairs to her home, the actress claims in new court documents.
Doherty, 48, announced earlier this month that she is battling stage 4 breast cancer. The "90210" actress sued the insurance giant back in March 2019, accusing the company of failing to pay for full repairs to her home caused by the 2018 Woolsey fires that ripped through California.
In new federal court documents obtained by Fox News, Doherty claims State Farm left her nearly homeless after refusing to extend their coverage of monthly payments for a rental home while her permanent home was filled with "toxins" from the fire.
Gabrielle Carteris, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green, Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth and Ian Ziering of '90210.' (FOX via Getty Images)
"At the end of March 2019, State Farm refused to pay any further rent for Ms. Doherty's rental property," the court papers state. "Ms. Doherty's landlord threatened her with eviction and posting of a three-day notice to quit if the rent was not received from State Farm for April 2019."
Doherty argued her home was "still in disrepair" after living in the rental home for three months. Ultimately, State Farm agreed to pay for one additional month and then instructed Doherty that she would "have to find somewhere else to live," the documents claim.
Doherty's filing added: "Thus, Ms. Doherty moved out of the rental property at the end of 2019 and she and her husband took up residence at her mother's condominium, sleeping on her couch."
SHANNEN DOHERTY GETS SUPPORT FROM TORI SPELLING AFTER CANCER DIAGNOSIS
The actress claimed that it wasn't until after she moved into her mother's home that State Farm conducted new testing of her property and determined the damage was "much more extensive than originally determined." This led the insurance company to restore its monthly rental payments to the actress for an additional three months, the filing said.
"This, of course, came after Ms. Doherty had nearly been evicted from her first rental property, had to endure over a month of sleeping on her mother's couch, and now had to find another short term rental of indeterminate length," the papers state.
It wasn't until the former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star filed the lawsuit against the company that it began covering the costs through December 2019, the documents state.
In a statement to Fox News on Thursday following Doherty's filing, State Farm said: "The plaintiff's attorneys continue to distort the facts. Once presented with all of the facts, we trust the jury will agree we have paid what we owe on this smoke damage claim. We look forward to making our case in court."
Wednesday's court filing comes nearly one week after State Farm argued Doherty was using her recent cancer diagnosis to garner "sympathy" at an upcoming trial scheduled to begin in March.
Doherty's attorney, Devin McRae, told Fox News the insurance company's sympathy argument is "quite appalling."
"It's in line with the continuing contempt, hostility and lack of respect it's had for Ms. Doherty since the beginning of this claim," McRae said last week.
In a declaration filed by Doherty last week, the actress said she was under "enormous emotional distress" between the lawsuit and her cancer diagnosis. She also blasted State Farm for what she called peddling lies in the lawsuit, including the claim that she smoked cigarettes up until March 2019.
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A rep for State Farm also previously told Fox News in a statement on Feb. 8: "The plaintiff's attorneys' latest motion once again distorts the facts. Rather than try this smoke damage case in the media, we will do so in a court of law."
The actress was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 but entered remission following chemotherapy and radiation. In 2018, she underwent reconstruction with an innovative surgery called DIEP flap, in which the breast is rebuilt using the patient's own tissue.
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