The repairs on her house took almost a year, twice the amount of time first estimated, because her contractor stopped work after Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest failed to pay on time, the 80-year-old widow claims in a lawsuit.

Her case is now headed for trial. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell refused Hartford's request to dismiss Pedersen's allegation that its handling of her claim amounted to intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The judge ruled that a jury should decide whether company officials recklessly ignored the likelihood that they would distress Pedersen by the way they resolved her claim.

Pedersen said she paid food and hotel bills out of her own pocket after her insurer refused to front the money, and the stress triggered insomnia and caused her hair to begin falling out.

In the end, she received thousands of dollars less than the cost of restoring her house and covering her living expenses after the Aug. 11, 1999, twister hit, her suit said.

Lawyers for Hartford counter that the company's $279,419.74 payment reimbursed Pedersen for her losses and expenses.

The Salt Lake City woman's claim for an additional $23,825 was rejected because those costs were not covered, the attorneys said.

The policy covered Pedersen's additional living expenses, which excluded meals because she could prepare them in her hotel room's kitchen, the lawyers say. In addition, Pedersen could have retrieved her clothes from storage instead of buying new ones, they say.

Hartford also insists it never refused to pay Pedersen's claim to upset her.

Pedersen's white brick home was built in 1972 as a wedding gift from her late husband, Edward Pedersen, founder of the Pedersen's Ski & Sports chain.

Frances Pedersen said she and her husband filled the 10-room home with high-quality furnishings and art. They also hired a professional painter to create a mural of an African landscape in a trophy room that held the mounted heads of the big game bagged by Edward Pedersen, who died in 1983, according to her suit.

The tornado forced her to leave with only the clothes on her back, Pedersen says.

"I was devastated by the loss of my home," she says in an affidavit filed last month. "Nevertheless, I took consolation in the fact that, after my husband's death, I had taken out a homeowner's insurance policy with The Hartford Insurance Company. I chose Hartford because they were recommended to me by the American Association of Retired Persons as being an insurance company who took extra special care of senior citizens."

A trial on Pedersen's suit is scheduled to begin Oct. 18.

pmanson@sltrib.com