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Retaining walls at the damaged Piney Point Reservoir are on the brink of complete collapse Easter Sunday afternoon. What is being described as an imminent breach of the retaining walls at the reservoir is apt to cause a 20-foot wall of water cascading into the surrounding area in Manatee County near Tampa Bay. The potential catastrophic flooding is worsened by the reality that Piney Point Reservoir exists to contain toxic wastewater from a shuttered phosphate plant. A breach of retaining…

2020 Hurricane Season Breaks Records Before It Even Starts The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1 and runs through November 30, according to the National Hurricane Center. Even before the 2020 hurricane season officially began, Atlantic tropical storms broke records for two main reasons. First, this year’s hurricane season opened with a record number of named storms having formed in the Atlantic, two before the season and one that ripped into action directly at the start official start of…

Twisters Rip Through Multiple States, Killing at Least 19 – Property Damage Extensive The 2020 tornado season began horrifically as Easter Sunday storms ripped through southern states from Louisiana through Alabama, spawning multiple deadly tornadoes. At least 19 deaths were reported as of dawn Monday after the holiday, a death toll that is expected to rise. News from multiple states is grim. In the immediate aftermath of tornado, 11 people were reported killed in Mississippi. Six people lost their live…

“Physical Loss” and “Physical Damage” in Business Interruption Insurance Claims As we have discussed in other posts, business interruption insurance protects businesses against losses in situations where a business is physically incapable of opening its doors to its customers. Since many businesses have been either ordered to close, or have had their normal operations severely curtailed, by civil authorities in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, many businesses have filed business interruption claims with their insurers only to have those claims…

Business Interruption Insurance Claims and the Coronavirus Epidemic: Round 2 In a previous post, the business interruption claims lawyer at The Doan Law Firm discussed the issue of business interruption insurance claims related to the Coronavirus epidemic and state/local government-mandatory business closing orders. In the latest twist to arguments as to whether or not insurance carriers are liable for such claims, Insurancejournal.com is reporting that lawmakers in at least 4 states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio, as of…