Two Hall Booth Smith associates trying their first case without supervising attorneys notched a defense win in federal court last week in an insurance dispute involving a $50,000 claim for a damaged roof.

Key to the jury's decision was testimony that a roofer used an app to find the date of a convenient storm to bolster hail-damage claims, said defense attorney Samuel Sykes II, who represented State Farm Insurance with colleague Tiffany Winks.

Sykes said the repairman, Montana Mace, “readily admitted, during his deposition, to using an app to find likely dates to say a storm had damaged property.”