On October 10, 2009
Was Your Home Blown Down or Washed Away? Only the Court Knows
Ever since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, flooding New Orleans and causing more than $40 billion in damage, insurers have been fighting the battle of “wind versus water” with their policyholders, states attorneys general and, ultimately, in the courts. This week the insurers got a big setback. In a unanimous decision, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in favor of a coastal property-owning couple who basically argued that their home was blown down before it was washed away. Why is this important? Property insurers like State Farm, Allstate, Travelers and Hartford cover wind damage and other kinds of mayhem, but they don’t cover floods. Flood insurance is provided by the federal government, but the kicker is: only up…
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