Commercial insurance policies may provide private flood coverage. These are not common, but policies should be fully read, and flood coverage is usually found in an endorsement or a Difference in Conditions policy. One question is, “how much flood coverage is available?” A recent case found that the endorsement did not provide a dollar limit to the business income and extra expense claim.1
Continue Reading No Business Income and Extra Expense Coverage Limit to Flood Endorsement
When it comes to claims, the National Flood Insurance Program is in need of major legal reform that only Congress can address. The claims system is form over substance. When it comes to the stupid reasons insurance benefits can legally be disallowed, the National Flood Insurance Program is in a league by itself. The most recent example of how an entire flood claim for all damages can be denied is an innocuous letter denying part of the contents claim because photographs of some content items were not provided.1
Continue Reading All National Flood Insurance Letters Are Important—Technical Denials of Only a Part of a Claim Start the One-Year Time to File Suit
Although there are many factors that may affect coverage for flood claims under the Standard Flood Insurance Policy (“SFIP”) forms, coverage issues typically fall into two categories: 1) is the property for which a claim is being made considered “covered property” under the policy; and 2) has there been “direct physical loss by or from flood.
Continue Reading Flood Claims – Understanding What Constitutes a Covered Loss in a Standard Flood Insurance Policy
While many Arizonans welcome monsoons bringing relief from the summer heat, these summer thunderstorms threaten severe damage to property in its path.
Continue Reading Arizona Monsoon Season Thundering Across Grand Canyon State
The National Flood Insurance Program is a tough federal insurance program. There is a recent case which was thrown out of court because the policyholder tried to do it himself. [1] It is another example that when FEMA officials say the government Is there to help with your flood claim, you will find out differently very quickly if you disagree with them on anything.
Continue Reading Policyholders Should Immediately Get Professional Help if they Have Any Problems with their National Flood Insurance Claim
Lately, much of the United States have seen wild swings of severe weather. From the mid 70’s on Saturday to 47 degrees and an inch of rain on Monday, severe weather can wreak havoc on your home. With torrential rains and flash flood in most parts of the Northeast recently, many find themselves asking: my house has suffered water damage, am I covered?
Continue Reading My House Has Suffered Water Damage, Am I Covered?
In July, 2016, what has been called a 200-to-500 year thunderstorm dropped between five and seven inches of rain in a two-hour period in Princeton, New Jersey. The heavy rain fall resulted in water pooling at the bottom of a stairwell below street level, next to a salon’s glass door entrance.
Continue Reading Even If You Don’t Live in a Flood Prone Area, You May Want a Flood Risk Policy in Place
2017 wasn’t the best year for Houston Texas. Due to the unprecedented rain fall that occurred during Hurricane Harvey, the Barker Reservoir and the Addicks Reservoir—both located off of Highway 6 in Houston—quickly filled to their maximum capacity. In an effort to protect the greater Houston area from experiencing even worse flood inundation, the US Army Corps of Engineers—the federal government entity responsible for management of the reservoirs—intentionally released the flood gates on the reservoirs, causing severe flood inundation to thousands of homes and businesses that had never flooded, were not in a flood zone, and had no reason to expect that level of damage.
Continue Reading Update on Flood Cases Against the US Army Corps of Engineers
Hurricane Harvey flooding impacted Texas property owners (i) with sufficient flood insurance to cover the loss, (ii) with insufficient flood insurance to cover the loss, and (iii) without flood insurance. This three-part series outlines the differences in the rights of these property owners and the different avenues to recovery. My previous post was Hurricane Harvey FEMA Claims vs. Inverse Condemnation Claims: Do You Know Your Recovery Rights? (Part I), where I discussed one avenue of recovery for property owners with flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968. This post focuses on a wholly separate recovery avenue for property owners with or without flood insurance under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Continue Reading Hurricane Harvey FEMA Claims vs. Inverse Condemnation Claims: Do You Know Your Recovery Rights? (Part II)
Beginning on August 9, 2016 and lasting through August 31, 2016, numerous parishes in Southeast Louisiana1 experienced prolonged, torrential rainfall and flooding. By the end of the days-long Great Flood event of 2016, several states were included in disaster declarations due to the same weather system. Though flooding to this extent is usually associated with a hurricane or tropical storm, this one was not. Regardless, flood damage is often covered by a Standard Flood Insurance Policy (SFIP) issued through National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) fiscal agents known as Write Your Own (WYO) companies or by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) directly through an NFIP Direct Servicing Agent (Direct). The NFIP is provided under the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, amended (NFIA)2 and the SFIP is regulated under 44 C.F.R. §§ 61 and 62.
Continue Reading Flood Related Deadlines Nearing for Louisiana 2016 Mid-Summer Severe Storms: Proof of Loss Deadline v. Lawsuit Deadline