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Downey v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co.

Judgment in favor of insured under a National Flood Insurance Program policy affirmed; federal court had jurisdiction because plaintiff bought protection from the government through a federal program; retaining wall exclusion in policy did not apply because there was damage done to plaintiff's home.

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The full case caption appears at the end of this opinion.

Easterbrook, Circuit Judge. MichaelDowney lives on a hill in Peoria,Illinois. His back yard runs downward ata 35� angle, creating a danger of soilerosion that could compromise thefoundation of his house. A retaining wallsupported the soil, but in February 1997heavy rain washed away the wall and muchof the soil that it had been retaining.This in turn caused the house’sfoundation to shift and become unstable.Fortunately (or so he thought) Downey hadpurchased flood insurance. State FarmFire & Casualty Co., from which Downeybought the policy, paid to fix cracks inthe foundation but denied indemnity forthe expense of stabilizing the house toward off collapse. Injury caused by thefailure of the retaining wall, State Farmasserted, is excluded from coverage.State Farm lost in the district court andon appeal challenges the district judge’sinterpretation of the policy. Beforereaching the merits, however, we mustconsider both subject-matter andappellate jurisdiction.

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