Flood Risk Disclosure Law Uptick Offers Insurance Upsides

Adam Budesheim spoke with Law360  about the growing number of states adopting and implementing flood risk disclosure laws. He noted that he would be watching whether the New Jersey law results in more litigation against landlords or property sellers for failure to disclose flood events. A notable issue to watch for in litigation would be the subjective definition of flood damage, he said. “There is a definition of flood that FEMA uses, but the New Jersey statute just refers to a natural flood event, and it’s not necessarily going to be clear to sellers or to landlords whether or not something in the past has risen to the level of a natural flood event.”