Wind came first

This is a report from the news here in my town regarding Hurricane Katrina on the coast. Finally the decision to provide clear cut proof to the insurance companies who have failed to render their monies on claims by homeowners now living in tents, shacks and shanty towns and the infamous FEMA trailers.

July 12, 2006

Meteorologist testifies Katrina's winds first hit coast

By Lora Hines

GULFPORT — A U.S. Air Force-trained meteorologist testified today in U.S. District Court that Hurricane Katrina’s powerful winds pounded the Mississippi Gulf Coast several hours before storm surge washed on shore.

Rocco Calachi of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., appeared as an expert witness in Pascagoula Police Lt. Paul Leonard’s lawsuit against Leonard’s insurance company, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. Leonard is among thousands of Coast residents who have filed lawsuits against insurance companies that refused to pay flood claims after the Aug. 29 storm.

Leonard’s attorney, Richard Scruggs, said Calachi’s testimony shows that long-lasting, fierce winds first damaged homes before storm surge washed away what was left of them. “(The insurance companies) don’t have the argument that flood caused all the damage,” Scruggs said.

But Scruggs, well known for winning a landmark multi-billion dollar tobacco settlement, said Leonard’s case hinges more on what his Nationwide insurance agent Jay Fletcher told him rather than whether wind or water damaged his Pascagoula home. Leonard testified that Fletcher told him he had coverage on his home for any damage brought by a hurricane.

The hurricane severely damaged Leonard’s home about two blocks from the beach. He is seeking a total of about $158,000. Nationwide paid him $1,600.

“The agent interpreted that the Leonards had coverage for wind or water if it was propelled by a hurricane,” Scruggs said. “The wind versus water is a huge issue in some of the other cases,” he said, including that of his brother-in-law, Sen. Trent Lott.

Nationwide spokesman Joe Case said agents do not have authority to change homeowners’ policies as they are written. The Leonards’ policy clearly excludes water damage coverage, he said. The Leonards would have known that if they had read the policy, Case said.

Attorneys for Nationwide are to cross-examine Calachi, whom they have objected to as an expert witness. Scruggs is expected to call an insurance adjuster and engineer before he concludes his case.

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