News
The New York Times: Germany Quits Nuclear Power, Ending a Decades-Long Struggle.
Historic Fort Lauderdale Flooding Swamped Homes
Thousands of acres are underwater in California, and the flood could triple in size this summer
April 22nd – Earthday 2023, the 53rd Earthday. Watch the video.
Assignment
We will carry over the materials from last class.
LSU Flood Maps Site – Look up some addresses and play with the maps. This will give a quick introduction to flood maps.
Review the standard policy for residential flood insurance: Dwelling Form Standard Flood Insurance Policy F-122 / October 2021
Focus on the specifics of what is covered and what is excluded. After every major flood, there are a lot of news stories about how people are being cheated by the NFIP underwriters. A lot of these complaints are driven by the insured and their lawyers not knowing the difference between the limited coverage of the NFIP policy compared to a usual homeowner’s policy.
Contesting NFIP claims. Since NFIP insurance is a federal government benefit, the claims and their appeals are governed by federal administrative law, rather than state law. These two cases outline the process and the pitfalls if you treat an NFIP claim like a state insurance claim. I have provided a video review to facilitate our classroom discussion of the cases.
Gibson v. American Bankers Insurance Co., 289 F.3d 943 (6th Cir. 2002) – annotated
DeCosta v. Allstate Ins. Co., 730 F.3d 76, 77 (1st Cir. 2013) – annotated