Last Thursday, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in favor of the insured homeowners in the Corban v. USAA case.  This important case had been anxiously awaited by homeowners and lawyers since it was argued on June 9, 2009.  At issue in the Corban case was the Anti-Concurrent Causation ("ACC") clause.  You may recall that it was this particular portion of homeowners' policies that insurance companies relied on to deny claims where it was difficult to distinguish wind versus water damages.  As I have said many times previously, insurance policy provisions such as the ACC clause should be declared void as against the public policy of the State of Mississippi.  The Supreme Court did not go that far, but did declare that the ACC clause cannot be used in the manner that State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide and USAA had used it to deny legitimate claims. 

The Corban decision comes too late for many Katrina victims who have already settled their claims based on the fear that our courts would find that the insurance compasnies were right in denying their claims.  However, it will speed settlement of the remaining claims.  Perhaps more importantly, the Corban decision has provided a roadmap for the proper adjustment of wind/water claims after the next hurricane.  The next step is to have the legislature adopt the reasoning of the Supreme Court and adopt the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Model Code for adjustment of claims.  Only Mississippi and Alabama have failed to adopt this model code at this point.  Therefore, I will be filing a bill seeking adoption of the NAIC Model Code 900-1.