Sop’s great new link to Insurance Law Hawaii brings legal issues full circle from Katrina to Ike with Is damage from Ike caused by flood or wind.
The battle has begun on whether the Hurricane Ike’s damage to the Texas coast was a result of flood or wind…Since the storm, Texas legislators have suggested that the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association pay claims for damages resulting from storm surge. This Association has taken on coverage for many coastal homeowners after private insurers withdrew from the market…The Fifth Circuit, which includes Texas, has developed a body of law on the flood/wind dichotomy in homeowners’ policies. Although it would seem many of the issues decided after Hurricane Katrina would apply to coverage issues after Hurricane Ike, it will be interesting to follow how the litigation develops.
Everyone but Ike knows you don’t mess with Texas, and, the Texas Monthly has its eye on the slabbed according to the post linked to ILH.
Texas Watch today wrote coastal and Harris County legislators and members of the appropriate legislative committees asking lawmakers to consider a proposal by state Senator Rodney Ellis to “explicitly direct insurers to cover storm surge losses.”
This [correspondence] came after the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) annnounced earlier today that it would not pay claims for damages resulting from storm surge. Calling this position “ludicrous,” Texas Watch makes the point that “storm surge is a phenomenon peculiar to windstorms.” (emphasis added) Continue reading “Texas expecting Katrina-like wind v water litigation after Ike”