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Catastrophes and Anti-Concurrent Cause Policy Language 

https://zalma.com/blog

The United States Court of Appeal, Fifth Circuit entered an important  decision with regard to water damage and insurance policy coverage for  claims resulting from water damage and catastrophe losses. In Leonard v.  Nationwide, 499 F.3d 419, 37 A.L.R. 6th 785 (2007) the first of the  Katrina cases to go to trial, found that  anti-concurrent-causation clause was not ambiguous; the clause was not invalid under Mississippi law; and water damages exclusion unambiguously excluded damage caused to  residence from storm surge.  The Leonards\' home lies twelve feet above sea level on the southernmost  edge of Pascagoula, Mississippi, less than two hundred yards from the  Mississippi Sound. Hurricane Katrina battered Pascagoula with torrential  rain and sustained winds in excess of one hundred miles per hour. By  midday, the storm had driven ashore a formidable tidal wave\\u2014also called a  storm or tidal surge\\u2014that flooded the ground floor of the Leonards\'  two-story home.  The Fifth Circuit found that the anti-concurrent causation \\u201cclause  unambiguously excludes coverage for water damage \\u2018even if another  peril\\u201d\\u2014e.g., wind\\u2014 \\u201ccontributed concurrently or in any sequence to cause  the loss.\\u2019 The plain language of the policy leaves the district court  no interpretive leeway to conclude that recovery can be obtained for  wind damage that \\u2018occurred concurrently or in sequence with the excluded  water damage.\\u2019\\u201d  For all these reasons, the Fifth Circuit \\u201cconcluded that use of an  anti-concurrent-cause clause to supplant the default causation regime is  not forbidden by Mississippi caselaw (including the Camille cases which  antedate such clauses), statutory law, or public policy. Because the  anti-concurrent-causation clause is unambiguous and not otherwise  voidable under state law, it withstood the claim of the Leonards.  \\xa9 2021 \\u2013 Barry Zalma  Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to service as an  insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance  claims handling, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost equally  for insurers and policyholders. He also serves as an arbitrator or  mediator for insurance related disputes. He practiced law in California  for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims handling  lawyer and more than 52 years in the insurance business. He is available  at http://www.zalma.com and zalma@zalma.com.  Mr. Zalma is the first recipient of the first annual Claims Magazine/ACE  Legend Award.  Over the last 53 years Barry Zalma has dedicated his life to insurance,  insurance claims and the need to defeat insurance fraud. He has created  the following library of books and other materials to make it possible  for insurers and their claims staff to become insurance claims  professionals.  Go to the podcast Zalma On Insurance at https://anchor.fm/barry-zalma;  Follow Mr. Zalma on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bzalma; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library \\u2013 https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/ Read posts from Barry Zalma at https://parler.com/profile/Zalma/posts; and the last two issues of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-2/  podcast now available at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zalma-on-insurance/id1509583809?uo=4