Well it appears that this may be the last post in this series about national flood coverage of non-owned debris removal / boat in my front yard case. On Friday, April 17, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denied the policyholders’ Petition for Rehearing.1
The policyholders had requested the court reconsider its decision that the Standard Flood Insurance Policy does not cover the expense of removing non-owned debris in the policyholder’s lot or any land outside the perimeter walls of the structure. However, given this denial of the Petition for Rehearing, this may be the end of the road for this issue in the Third Circuit.
This case will affect debris removal claims under SFIP policies within the reaches of the Third Circuit. It is not yet clear what its impact will be in other jurisdictions with huge numbers of SFIP claims from Sandy still pending.
If there is any further development in this case or others with similar issues in other jurisdictions, we will update on this issue. Until then, the boat will be a lawn ornament in my front yard…
1 Torre, v. Liberty Mutual Fire Ins. Co., No. 14-2733 (3rd Cir. April 17, 2015).