Davis

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND MOTION TO DISMISS (EXCEPT IN LIMITED PART)

INTRODUCTION

The issue on defendants’ motions is whether the National Flood Insurance Program immunizes a “write-your-own” carrier from any and all state-law liability (apart from flood insurance payments) for wrongful acts in processing NFIP claims. This order holds that there is no such blanket immunity.

STATEMENT

Plaintiffs, Kenneth and Barbara Davis of Corte Madera, argue that Travelers misled them to their detriment in advising them how to process their flood insurance claims. Plaintiffs’ home was flooded on February 28, 1998. Covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), they advised Travelers Property & Casualty Co., the underwriter of their standard NFIP policy, of their losses. Under the NFIP, private insurers write standard flood insurance policies (SFIPs) under their own names. See 44 C.F.R. 62.23. The SFIPs issued by the private insurers are identical to’those, issued directly by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and is published in the Code of Federal Regulations. See 44 C.F.R. Pt. 61, App. A(l). Private insurers, like 'Travelers, that issue…