{"id":766626,"date":"2015-05-27T06:59:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T12:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=766626"},"modified":"2015-05-20T12:00:01","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T18:00:01","slug":"under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Trautmann |\u00a0Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | May 13, 2015<\/p>\n<p>Floods do all sorts of damage. One aspect of damage often overlooked is when the flood removes property from one property owner\u2019s land and deposits it on another\u2019s land. Depending on where your property is located and the severity of the flood event, the debris on the policyholder\u2019s property can be extensive and expensive to clean up. The question naturally becomes, is this a covered loss under the Standard Flood Insurance Policy?<\/p>\n<p>A quick review of the policy would suggest yes. However, case law shows that is not always the situation. The Standard Flood Insurance Policy states \u201c[w]e will pay the expense to remove non-owned debris that is on or in insured property and debris of insured property anywhere.\u201d The policy delineates between debris that originated on the policyholder\u2019s property and debris that does not. There is no question that the removal of debris owned by the policyholder is covered anywhere. The issue here is when will the policy cover the removal of non-owned debris and it was addressed recently by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Torre v. Liberty Mutual Fire Ins. Company.1<\/p>\n<p>In Torre, the plaintiffs sought coverage for the removal of non-owned debris deposited on their property during Superstorm Sandy. The Court ruled that the land upon which a policyholder\u2019s structures are built is not considered insured property under the policy. The court stated:<\/p>\n<p>In sum, the SFIP provides coverage for certain structures and other items of property but not for an entire parcel of land. The entire parcel of land thus cannot constitute \u201cinsured property\u201d because it is not insured by the SFIP at all. And because the entire parcel of land does not constitute \u201cinsured property,\u201d the provision of the SFIP requiring Liberty to pay for the removal of non-owned debris that is \u201con or in insured property\u201d does not apply to the expenses the Torres incurred in removing non-owned debris from their land outside their home.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, unless non-owned debris is in or on the structure, the SFIP will not cover it. There is, however, a more concerning note in this case regarding government waste and the vexatious litigation strategies employed by the flood carriers and their attorneys. The total amount in dispute in the Torre matter was $15,520. In my experience, I do not believe there is any way that a matter can proceed through motions for summary judgment and then a federal appeal for legal costs of less than $15,000. More likely , the flood carrier spent far more to defend this case than it would have cost them to settle it. I bet if the flood carrier\u2019s legal costs were not being covered by federal treasury (taxpayers), the matter would have been resolved long before getting to this point.<\/p>\n<p>1 Torre v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co., No. 14-2733, 2015 WL 1344684 (3d Cir. Mar. 26, 2015).<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.propertyinsurancecoveragelaw.com\/2015\/05\/articles\/insurance\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/index.html\">Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property : Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Trautmann |\u00a0Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | May 13, 2015 Floods do all sorts of damage. One aspect of damage often overlooked is when the flood removes property from one property owner\u2019s land and deposits it on another\u2019s land. Depending on where your property is located and the severity of the flood event, the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[166,3,56],"class_list":["post-766626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance-claims","tag-flood","tag-insurance-claims","tag-property-damage","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert Trautmann |\u00a0Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | May 13, 2015 Floods do all sorts of damage. One aspect of damage often overlooked is when the flood removes property from one property owner\u2019s land and deposits it on another\u2019s land. Depending on where your property is located and the severity of the flood event, the&hellip; Continue reading Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-27T12:59:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-27T12:59:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/\"},\"wordCount\":508,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"flood\",\"Insurance Claims\",\"property damage\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Insurance Claims\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/\",\"name\":\"Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-27T12:59:13+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","og_description":"Robert Trautmann |\u00a0Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | May 13, 2015 Floods do all sorts of damage. One aspect of damage often overlooked is when the flood removes property from one property owner\u2019s land and deposits it on another\u2019s land. Depending on where your property is located and the severity of the flood event, the&hellip; Continue reading Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/","og_site_name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2015-05-27T12:59:13+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property","datePublished":"2015-05-27T12:59:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/"},"wordCount":508,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["flood","Insurance Claims","property damage"],"articleSection":["Insurance Claims"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/","name":"Under Flood Policy, Land is Not Considered Insured Property - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-05-27T12:59:13+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/under-flood-policy-land-is-not-considered-insured-property\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-3dqW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}