In the aftermath of two powerful hurricanes the process of assessing the damage and rebuilding begins. Businesses suffered billions of dollars in losses during hurricanes Helene and Milton, both in physical property damage...more
Property insurance policies are complex legal contracts. That’s because the insurance industry has its own language and processes that can be subject to multiple interpretations. ...more
Louisiana experienced déjà vu in 2021 when Hurricane Ida inflicted damage to the southeastern part of the State similar to that experienced by citizens impacted by Hurricane Laura one year earlier and on the sixteenth...more
A district court in Montana recently applied an anti-concurrent clause in a property insurance policy to preclude coverage based on an earth movement exclusion. In Ward v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Amer., No. 1:19-CV-0133-SPW, 2021...more
With the COVID-19 pandemic and government stay-at-home orders came an unprecedented number of claims for business interruption coverage under first-party property policies—and the inevitable coverage litigation over those...more
2018’s first named tropical weather system already struck Florida and states near the Gulf of Mexico. Sub-tropical storm Alberto came a full week before the official start of the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season and serves as...more
In the first part of the series “The Mortgage Servicer’s Role in Navigating Insurance Claims,” we covered assessing property damage and applying insurance proceeds in compliance with the terms of the standard mortgage...more
While Puerto Rico was spared a direct hit from Hurricane Irma, it was lashed by Irma’s wind and experienced significant amounts of rain that will likely lead to flooding. There may also be damages arising from storm surge...more
Until very recently, the scarcity of water and the decline in oil prices in California prompted the joke that oil was being used as fracking fluid to get water out of the ground. In the last week, however, so much rain has...more
We have discussed on a number of occasions the issue of causation when there are multiple causes of loss, some covered and some not covered. Most jurisdictions apply what is known as the efficient proximate cause analysis...more
Last Friday, Texas’ highest court unanimously endorsed lower court and federal court decisions giving effect to anti-concurrent causation (ACC) clauses and held that such provisions bar coverage where a combination of an...more