Stankova v. Metropolitan Prop. And Cas. Ins. Co., 788 F.3d 1012 (9th Cir. 2015)
May 25, 2015OUTCOME: The Ninth Circuit agreed with our position, and we obtained a favorable settlement after remand to the U.S. District Court. The settlement agreement requires that the terms, including the amount paid, remain confidential.
The Wallow Fire, the largest wildfire in Arizona history, burned many acres of Arizona's high country, including the forest land above plaintiffs' mountainside vacation home. The home was saved from th ... e fire, but because the vegetation on the mountainside was denuded, the house was destroyed by flooding and mudslides when monsoon rains fell on the barren mountainside. The insurer denied coverage, citing flooding and earth movement exclusions in the policy, and the "anti-concurrent" causation provision common in many homeowner's policies. We argued that fire was a proximate cause of the loss, and that under Arizona law the insurer's exclusions were invalid.
