Hurricane Victims Lose Big in Flood Damage Litigation
Tuesday's ruling that Nationwide isn't responsible for $130,000 in water damage to Julie and Paul Leonard's Mississippi home doesn't come as a surprise: it's standard for homeowners insurance policies to explicitly exclude flood damage. Still, the ruling--which applies only to the Leonards' case but will likely set precedent for the hundreds of other similar cases pending in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi--is a blow for already devastated hurricane victims. The Leonards will be compensated for less than $3,000 of the $130,000+ damages to their home and property stemming from the 2005 hurricanes, and similar results seem likely for scores of other hurricane victims whose homes were partially or entirely destroyed by the storms.