The well-known attorney Richard Scruggs represented the homeowners, Paul and Julie Leonard. Scruggs contended “wind-driven rain, and not flooding, caused most of the damage to their home from Hurricane Katrina and therefore was covered under the terms of their homeowners’ policy.”
Judge Senter wrote in his opinion, “There is no evidence to support the finding that this insurance contract should be reformed. They were bound by the express terms of the policy, even if their interpretation of the policy was incorrect, and even if the inferences they drew from the conversations they had with Fletcher were erroneous.”
The bottom line for the judge was that “virtually all of the damage to the Leonards’ home was caused by an incursion of water validly excluded under the terms of their policy.”
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