A commentary on insurance coverage issues in Hawaii and beyond
If you assume your mortgage company will pay your flood insurance premiums, is the mortgage company liable for damage to property after failing to pay such premiums? In Burks v. Prudential Ins. Co. of North Am., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65451 (E.D. La. July 29, 2009), the court answered "no."
Burks purchased her property in June…
Two issues were presented in Stewart Enterprises, Inc. v. RSUI Indem. Co., Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50156 (E.D. La. June 15 2009). First, was the excess carrier's following form policy was bound by the primary carrier's exception to the flood exclusion? Second, was the primary policy's anti-concurrent causation clause applicable?
The insured owed various cemeteries, funeral…
The insureds' home was damaged by a flood in Ross, California, on December 31, 2005. See Cook v. USAA General Indemn. Co., No. C-07-4042, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45490 (N.D. Cal. June 1, 2009). The home was insured under a National Flood Insurance Program policy issued by USAA.
The home was located in a flood…
The ABA’s Section of Litigation, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee’s website has been building a collection of insurance related articles, labeled “Hot Topics.” Many informative and timely articles appear at the site. See my article, “Breadth of the Flood Exclusion: A Flood is a Flood, Including Storm Surge,” posted on the site [Article] which discusses the…
Here is a report in today's Insurance Journal regarding oral argument conducted last Tuesday before the Mississippi Supreme Court in Corban v. United Services Automobile Assoc., No. 2008-M-645 (Miss.) At issue is the application of the anti-concurrent causation clause where the insured's home was allegedly damaged by both wind and flood. We have previously discussed the Corban…
Senior Judge Senter from the Southern District of Mississippi continues to be on the front lines of the Katrina insurance coverage battles. In a case headed for trial, Judge Senter recently denied motions by both the insured and insurer attempting to establish estoppel on coverage issues. See Politz v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co.…
A mixed result for the insured and excess insurers was reached in Six Flags Inc. v. Westchester Surplus Lines Ins. Co., No. 08-30476, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 8273 (5th Cir. April 21, 2009)[here]. Although the Fifth Circuit determined most insurers had no further coverage obligation, the flood exclusion in one excess policy…
My wife and I were in Houston again last week. Over the weekend, we drove to Galveston, continuing a chain of visits from both before and after Hurricane Ike. [See prior posts here and here]. The Gulf Coast was in the Houston news last week because of former President George H.W. Bush's Saturday visit to Gilchrist on the Bolivar…
It's now late April. Posting on a decision rendered in March, early March at that, breaches a blogger's protocol. And In Re: Katrina Canal Breaches Consolidated Litigation; Pertains to: Road Home, Louisiana State, No. 05-4182, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30406 (E.D. La. March 5, 2009), received press when issued. The case allowed individual claims…
I can't resist reading a decision regarding a dispute over hurricane coverage for property owned by an Alaska Native Corporation. See Arctic Slope Regional Corp. v. Affiliated FM Ins. Co., No. 08-30050, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6900 (5th Cir. April 2, 2009). The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, one of the few lucrative Native Corporations formed under the…
