Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article (subscriber link) discussing the impact of the State Farm/Brousard case on Katrina and Rita claims settlement:
[Cameron, LA attorney] Jones said all the homeowners she is representing in the talks either had claims denied or had received partial payments, with insurers assigning some or all the damage to flooding, which is excluded from coverage, rather than wind, which is covered. All have gone through mediation without being able to settle, she said.
A ruling last month in the case of Norman and Genevieve Broussard’s Mississippi home, which was destroyed by a combination of tornado-force winds and storm surge, helped push insurers back to the table, Ms. Jones said. District Court Judge L.T. Senter ruled in that case that if wind and water both played a part in damaging a property, the insurer, in this case State Farm, carried the burden of proving how much of the damage was due to wind and how much to flood.