Howard v. Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency

960 F. Supp. 1095, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20721, 1996 WL 848209
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedDecember 30, 1996
DocketCivil Action No. 3:96-CV-530BN
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 960 F. Supp. 1095 (Howard v. Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Howard v. Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 960 F. Supp. 1095, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20721, 1996 WL 848209 (S.D. Miss. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

BARBOUR, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment. Having considered the Motion, Plaintiffs Response, Defendant’s Reply, all attachments to each, and supporting and opposing memoran-da, the Court finds that the Motion is well taken and should be granted.

I. Background and Procedural History

This case arises out of the denial of benefits by the Defendant, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”), under a Standard Flood Insurance Policy (“SFIP”) issued to the Plaintiff, Sallie Howard (“Howard”). Howard purchased policy number 1-9372-5009-8 from a local insurance agency, Shackleford Bros, and Fortenberry, Inc. (“Shackleford”), to insure her home located at 3210 South Liberty Street, Canton, Mississippi, with coverage up to $12,100 for the dwelling and $5,600 for the contents of the dwelling. The policy was effective from June 7,1994, through June 7,1995.

On April 20,1995, Bear Creek flooded near Howard’s home, and water from the creek rose around Howard’s home and flowed into the interior of her home.1 On April 21,1995, Howard, through her insurance agent, [1096]*1096Shackleford, filed a notice of loss informing the National Flood Insurance Program (“NFIP”) that she had sustained a flood loss. See Declaration of James S.P. Shortley at 2, ¶4, attached as Exhibit 1 to Defendant’s Motion (hereinafter “Shortley Declaration”), and Exhibit B attached thereto; see also Plaintiff’s Affidavit, ¶ 7, attached as Exhibit 3 to Plaintiffs Response. The claim was assigned to Charter Adjustment Company (“Charter”), and Jeff McGill was the claims adjuster assigned to inspect the Plaintiffs home. Shortley Declaration at 2, ¶ 4.

McGill investigated Howard’s claim by inspecting her home.2 According to Howard, McGill told her that she needed to get some estimates concerning the damage to her home. Plaintiffs Affidavit at 3, ¶ 9. McGill had also investigated a previous claim by Howard from a flood in 1994. After completing his inspection of Howard’s home due to the 1995 flood, McGill determined that at least some of the damage to Howard’s home from the 1994 flood did not appear to have been repaired. Shortley Declaration at 2-3, ¶ 6 and Narrative Report prepared by McGill, attached as Exhibit E thereto.3 Charter then requested documentation from Howard, in the form of “cancelled checks, material receipts, inspection reports, contractor agreements, or any other type of documentation,” to verify that the flood damage from 1994 had indeed been repaired. See Letter from Charter to Howard, attached as Exhibit F to Shortley Declaration. Plaintiff alleges that she did not have any proof that the repairs for the 1994 flood damage had been completed because “a lot of [her] papers had been damaged or destroyed” by the April, 1995, flood. Plaintiffs Affidavit, ¶ 10.

Meanwhile, on May 9,1995, a claims examiner for National Con-Serv, Inc. (“National Con-Serv”), the servicing agent for the NFIP, sent a letter to Howard advising her that her flood policy required that a Proof of Loss be filed:

Your flood policy requires that a formal Proof of Loss be filed within sixty (60) days of the loss date. If this is not done, the terms and conditions of the policy would be violated and your claim could be denied. Your deadline for filing a Proof of Loss for the above captioned claim is 6/20/95.
This letter is to inform you that you have until the above date to conclude your claim with the adjuster and file your Proof of Loss with us. If we have not received the Proof of Loss within the allotted time mentioned above, we will assume that you are not pursuing your claim and will close your file without further activity.

May 9, 1995, National Con-Serv Letter, attached as Exhibit C to Shortley Declaration. National Con-Serv sent Howard a second letter on June 20, 1995, which contained virtually identical language to the May 9, 1995, letter. The only difference is that the second letter stated that Howard would have ten days from the date of the letter in order to file her Proof of Loss. June 20,1995, National Con-Serv Letter, attached as Exhibit D to Shortley Declaration. It should be noted that the requested Proof of Loss is a different document than the Notice of Loss filed for the Plaintiff by her insurance agent.

At some point prior to the final denial of her claim, Howard apparently sent an un-sworn statement from Leroy Joyner to National Con-Serv which states as follows:4

This will certify that we, me and my brother, Prentis Harris, did perform the work on her house located above, per our estimate dated 3/7/94. We furnished the materials and Sallie Howard paid us cash, [1097]*1097as we completed this job. My brother, Prentis Harris is in Massassachusets [sic] with our sick father. This will acknowledge receipt of $5,000.00 cash for this job.
The receipts have been misplaced for the purchase of materials, as no one was advised they should be kept.

Joyner Statement, attached as Exhibit 4 to Plaintiffs Response.

On July 27, 1995, National Con-Serv sent a denial letter to Howard which states in relevant part as follows:

We have received the report from the adjuster documenting your above captioned claim.
The report advised us that the inspection of your property appeared to show that the repairs have not been completed from the prior loss. The adjuster has requested receipts and/or invoices to confirm that the repairs have been completed, but to date, none have been received.
Your loss has exceeded the sixty (60) days for filing the Proof of Loss. Therefore, we are denying the claim and closing the file without payment for failure to pursue the claim.
You have one (1) year from the date of this denial to file suit in the U.S. District Court for the district in which the insured property was located at the time of the loss.

July 27, 1995, National Con-Serv Letter, attached as Exhibit G to Shortley Declaration. After receiving this denial, Howard employed counsel to represent her in this matter. Her attorney wrote a letter to National Con-Serv on her behalf on January 10, 1996, although neither party submitted this letter to the Court. In response, National Con-Serv sent a letter to Howard’s counsel in reply:

We are in receipt of your letter of 1/10/96 concerning the denial of the above claim.
We must advise you that after comparing the prior loss in 1994 file with the above, documents were requested to verify the repairs were made prior to the above loss. We were informed that the insured had no paid receipts, but a hand written letter was provided from Mr. Joyner stating that he and his brother had completed the repairs in 1994. Since the letter was written by hand and was not on a business letter head, numerous attempts were made to [contact] Mr. Joyner & Mr. Harris for verification of the letter. We reached Mr. Harris on 1/30/96, and he informed me that he had made no repairs to the damages from the flood, that he repaired only the roof. He also informed me that Mr. Joyner was not his brother and that he did not know him.

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Bluebook (online)
960 F. Supp. 1095, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20721, 1996 WL 848209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howard-v-director-federal-emergency-management-agency-mssd-1996.