Policy Excludes Coverage for Vehicle Inventory Destruction Caused by Sandy Storm Surge, N.Y. Judge Rules

NEW YORK — A New York judge has ruled that a car dealership cannot collect insurance proceeds for the destruction of its vehicles during Superstorm Sandy, holding that the storm surge causing the damage falls within the policy’s flood exclusion.

On Nov. 22, Judge Jeffrey K. Oing of the New York County Supreme Court held that an appellate court’s previous ruling that the dealership’s business interruption losses fall within the flood exclusion is the “law of the case” and bars the claims for property damage losses because those losses are based upon the same storm event.

Five Towns Nissan, an …