Insured’s Failure to Sign and Swear to a Proof of Loss Dooms Flood Insurance Claim

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that a homeowner was not entitled to recover under a Standard Flood Insurance Policy (“SFIP”) where he had not signed and sworn to a proof of loss as required by the National Flood Insurance Program (“NFIP”).

The Case

After his house was flooded, a homeowner notified the insurer that had issued him a SFIP on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”), the agency that administers the NFIP. The homeowner and insurer could not agree on the amount of building damages he was owed under the policy, and he sued.

The insurer moved for summary judgment, arguing that the homeowner’s claim for building damages was barred because the proof of loss, although submitted within 60 days, was neither signed nor sworn to.

The district court denied the insurer’s motion, and the insurer appealed.

The First Circuit’s Decision

The circuit court reversed the district court.

In its decision, the circuit court ruled that a 16 page estimate from the homeowner’s adjuster that he submitted to his insurer, which he did not sign or swear to, did not meet the SFIP’s proof-of-loss requirement. The court determined that the SFIP’s proof-of-loss requirement “must be strictly construed and enforced.”  It did not matter that the estimate from the homeowner’s adjuster was submitted at the same time as compliant proof-of-loss forms claiming undisputed sums because, as the court noted, under the plain terms of the SFIP, the homeowner “still had to sign and swear to the amount in that estimate, which he did not do.”

The case is DeCosta v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 13-1176 (1st Cir. Sept. 20, 2013).