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Flood of Litigation: The Water Damage Exclusion
On Aug. 29, 2006, Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters ever to strike the United States, hit New Orleans and Mississippi. With winds recorded at over 135 mph, the hurricane caused severe damage to much of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. The worst was yet to come, however. Following the storm, the levees built to protect the city, which is mostly below sea level, failed to retain the water. This resulted in more than 80% of the city being flooded. This catastrophic flooding caused billions in damages and sparked the current storm of insurance coverage litigation.
Due to the crippling costs associated with flood insurance, most homeowner policies specifically exclude damages caused by flood. See 42 U.S.C. '4001(b) ('[M]any factors have made it uneconomic for the private insurance industry alone to make flood insurance available to those in need of such protection on reasonable terms and conditions.'). Because the private insurance industry could not provide flood insurance to homeowners on an economically feasible basis, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program ('NFIP') in 1968. This program offered property owners a relatively low-cost option to cover their property in the event of a flood. See 44 C.F.R. Pt. 61, App. A. Unfortunately, these residential dwelling flood policies are capped at $250,000 for dwellings and $100,000 for contents. Many policyholders who obtained this coverage found themselves significantly underinsured for the damages to their property. Many others, inexplicably, never bought flood coverage in the first place.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.