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Disaster Law Commons

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Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Disaster Law

Proactive Natural Disaster Recovery And Resilience In The Northeast: Should Governments Exercise Buyout Programs And, If Necessary, Eminent Domain, To Prevent Disaster?, Stellina Napolitano Jun 2016

Proactive Natural Disaster Recovery And Resilience In The Northeast: Should Governments Exercise Buyout Programs And, If Necessary, Eminent Domain, To Prevent Disaster?, Stellina Napolitano

Pace Environmental Law Review

In light of the devastation left behind by the three most recent natural disasters in the northeast region—Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and Superstorm Sandy—local and state governments are now implementing “buyout programs” in order to protect the future of beachfront and flood-prone communities. These programs may not be a perfect solution, so, while positions differ on whether to pursue taking private properties by use of eminent domain, it may be a favorable option in order to attain the ultimate goal of safety and resilience against future disaster. Section II of this paper will analyze the background and impacts that …


New Challenges For Urban Areas Facing Flood Risks, Debbie M. Chizewer, A Dan Tarlock Mar 2016

New Challenges For Urban Areas Facing Flood Risks, Debbie M. Chizewer, A Dan Tarlock

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Perverse Effects Of Subsidized Weather Insurance, Omri Ben-Shahar, Kyle D. Logue Jan 2016

The Perverse Effects Of Subsidized Weather Insurance, Omri Ben-Shahar, Kyle D. Logue

Articles

This Article explores the role of insurance as a substitute for direct regulation of risks posed by severe weather. In pricing the risk of human activity along the predicted path of storms, insurance can provide incentives for efficient location decisions as well as for cost-justified mitigation efforts in building construction and infrastructure. Currently, however, much insurance for severe-weather risks is provided and heavily subsidized by the government. This Article demonstrates two primary distortions arising from the government’s dominance in these insurance markets. First, existing government subsidies are allocated differentially across households, resulting in a significant regressive redistribution favoring affluent homeowners …


Insuring Landslides: America’S Uninsured Natural Catastrophes, Christopher French Dec 2015

Insuring Landslides: America’S Uninsured Natural Catastrophes, Christopher French

Christopher C. French


Landslides occur in all fifty states and cause approximately $3.5 billion in property damage annually. Yet, in America, “all risk” homeowners and commercial property insurance policies exclude coverage for landslides, and there is only limited availability of expensive, stand-alone “named peril” insurance policies that cover landslide losses. Consequently, the affected homeowners are often left financially devastated—homeless with a mortgage to pay on an unsaleable piece of property.

This Article analyzes the problem of insuring landslide losses in America and proposes ways to help solve it. It describes both historical and recent landslide events. It discusses the insurance industry’s response to …