OXFORD, Miss., Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- We are pleased that the Fifth Circuit Panel affirmed the common sense principles of Mississippi law -- that any loss caused by wind is covered damage even if water later comes onto a property. The Fifth Circuit confirmed that if a loss is caused by wind, there is full coverage. Scientific evidence shows that Hurricane Katrina caused widespread and catastrophic wind damage hours before any storm surge reached houses on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. However, as victims on the Gulf Coast have experienced, State Farm and other insurers, acting in bad faith, refused to pay for wind damage in cases where water touched properties. The Fifth Circuit's ruling in Tuepker is important because it clearly says State Farm is required to pay for such wind damage regardless of the Anti-Concurrent Clause (ACC). That is what SKG, on behalf of our clients, and others on the Mississippi Gulf Coast have been arguing all along.

Although the Fifth Circuit held the ACC clause was technically "unambiguous," it severely limited its application only to cases where wind and water caused the exact same loss at the exact same time. That never happens in a hurricane, wind damage is always separate from water damage and wind damage always occurs first.

For more information, visit www.scruggskatrinagroup.com. For media inquiries, please call: 662 528 2922 For legal questions, please call: 601 898 7302 Send emails to: scruggskatrinagroup@gmail.com.

About the Scruggs Katrina Group

The Scruggs Katrina Group is a legal team consisting of Mississippi attorneys from the following firms: Don Barrett and Marshall Smith of the Barrett Law Office; Dewitt Lovelace of the Lovelace Law Firm; David Nutt, Meg McAlister, and Derek Wyatt of Nutt & McAlister, PLLC, and Richard Scruggs, Sid Backstrom, and Zach Scruggs of the Scruggs Law Firm.
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