The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy is a creature of federal statute and is limited to what it says to protect the federal treasury. In Pittman v. Farmers Fire Ins. Exchange, the insureds, by failing to comply with the policy conditions and by having a loss not covered by the policy, lost their suit against the insurer. That left them with nothing more than a suit against the agent, who they claimed promised coverage that did not exist in their NFIP policy, for misrepresenting the coverage available.
Case background
Plaintiffs Catherine Lynn Pittman and Troy Vernon Pittman owned a single-family home in the town of Peculiar, Mo., on property that abuts a river. Catherine contacted defendant Colby Yoder, an insurance agent for Farmers Fire Insurance Exchange, a "Write-Your-Own" Standard Flood Insurance Policy (SFIP) company. Catherine specifically told Yoder that she wanted a flood insurance policy to cover the contents of her basement. She detailed the high-value possessions she kept in the basement, including furniture, televisions, kitchen appliances, a computer and hunting supplies.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
