Damage from Drain Overflow During Tropical Storm Covered Under All-Risk Policy, Court Rules

BOSTON — A federal appeals court has ruled that damage to a building caused by tropical storm rains that pooled around a rooftop drain is not excluded from coverage under an all-risk insurance policy that contained specific endorsements addressing flood-related losses.

Reversing a U.S. District Court’s award of summary judgment to Nova Casualty Co., the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Aug. 7 that the trial court erred in failing to consider the endorsements’ extension of coverage for damage resulting from surface water when it ruled that the policy’s “rain limitation” provision barred coverage for the claim.

Nova insured …