According to an article appearing in Mississippi's Sun Herald newspaper, the state's Attorney General Jim Hood expressed dissent over a ruling by a federal judge that said insurance companies could use a water exclusion to deny coverage for Hurricane Katrina's storm surge.
Reporter Anita Lee wrote that Hood is eager to take his lawsuit against insurers to state court, where he believes a judge will agree the exclusion is invalid and policyholders should be compensated for all hurricane damage under their homeowner policies. The case was removed from federal court earlier this year and sent back to Mississippi's state court to be heard.
Lee also wrote that insurers maintain the water exclusion has been applied for years and upheld by state courts. They say they should not be expected to pay for damage they collected no premiums to cover. Instead, they said, the National Flood Insurance Program covers storm surge while private policies cover only wind damage.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
