Ruling Drastically Cuts Opry Mills' Insurance Payout For 2010 Flood
The latest ruling in a long-slog legal battle about the damages to Opry Mills shopping center caused by the May 2010 Nashville flood came recently when a Tennessee appeals court reversed a previous decision concerning the mall's insurance coverage.
The court determined that mall owner Simon Property Group should be paid $50M by the insurers, or $150M less than Simon contended.
Simon said its insurance policy, issued by an international consortium of insurance companies led by Arch Insurance Co., provided $200M in coverage. Arch countered that the coverage was limited to $50M because the mall was in a designated high-hazard flood area.
In 2015, a trial court awarded Simon the full $200M. Arch Insurance took the case to the Court of Appeals of Tennessee in Nashville, which ruled on the matter late in January.
Opry Mills was closed for nearly two years after the flood, with restoration delayed in part by the lawsuit, the Tennessean reports. Parts of Nashville received more than 19 inches of rain in two days during the flood, and the mall was inundated by about 10 feet of water.
Frank Clement Jr., Michael Swiney and Richard Dinkins were the deciding judges. Nashville lawyers William Harbison, Phillip Cramer, Lauren Curry, Byron Trauger and Paul Ambrosius were among attorneys representing Arch Insurance, while Nashville attorneys Donald Capparella and Gregory Cashion represented Simon.
