State Supreme Court gives Edwards Virginia Smokehouse chance to argue insurance case

March 15-- Mar. 15--It appears that Edwards Virginia Smokehouse will have its day in the Supreme Court of Virginia.

The country ham and sausage made by the 90-year-old family smokehouse in Surry have been prized by Virginia sandwich makers and some of the finest restaurants in America -- in particular its Surryano ham.

But since a fire leveled the smokehouse in January 2016, owner Sam Edwards III has been locked in a court battle against his insurer, Selective Way insurance.

He has said the outcome of the lawsuit will decide the future of his company, and the suit has taken a big step forward.

On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court granted Edwards' motion to appeal, and will hear out the smokehouse's arguments -- provided Edwards and Selective Way don't broker a settlement within the next 30 days.

Pending mediation, no hearing date has been set.

Edwards said his son was the first to tell him his case would move on to the Supreme Court. "My wife happened to be in the office, and we both yelped at the same time."

Edwards' lawsuit alleges the company provided loss assessments that were too low, and willfully left his company insured for tens of millions of dollars less than it would take to rebuild and recoup losses. Selective Way paid $6 million, less than a third of what Edwards says would have been needed in 2016. The losses have since compounded, he says.

The insurance company has denied these allegations, and a lower court declined to rule in Edwards' favor in February 2018.

Edwards said the Supreme Court may be called upon to clarify the relevant insurance law--and could send the case back to trial instead of ruling outright.

"The fact of the matter is it probably won't get settled til next year," Edwards said. "The argument for the case will be in the Virginia Supreme Court. And if we win there, we go back to jury trial."

"We're moving forward," he said. "So that's good."

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