Many homeowners assume a homeowner’s policy provides hurricane and flood coverage. This is typically not the case, as hurricane and flood coverage must be purchased separately.
Tred Eyerly presented this paper in Honolulu, November 2008. It surveys the homeowner’s policy regarding coverage for property damage, and then addresses hurricane and flood policies and their applicability in Hawaii.
The article also looks at the anti-concurrent causation clause found in many homeowner’s policies. This clause states there is no insurance coverage if a covered peril and non-covered peril strike at the same time and cause the same damage. In other words, if wind (a covered peril) and flood (a non-covered peril) simultaneously hit a home and jointly contribute to the same damage, there would be no coverage for the wind damage based on the anti-concurrent causation clause.
The article concludes by summarizing the Fifth Circuit’s five block-buster Katrina decisions which interpret key provisions in homeowner and flood policies. Download here.
