The property-casualty industry faces its first post-Katrina "wind vs. flood" court challenge in a bench trial that opened last week in a Mississippi federal district court, and while confident of a victory, at least one industry leader predicted potential "chaos" should the judge rule against carriers.

The case pits Pascagoula residents Paul and Julie Leonard against the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company before U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr.'s court in Gulfport, Miss. Famed plaintiff's attorney Richard Scruggs has brought the case, along with several others testing the flood exclusion of homeowners' policies that insurers are citing to deny numerous claims stemming from the 2005 hurricanes.

For the first four days of the trial, the plaintiffs focused on allegations that their insurance agent, Jay Fletcher, told the Leonards they did not need to buy flood insurance because their policy protected them against all hurricane-related damage, including from any resulting "storm surge."

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