TEXAS PROPERTY LAW UPDATE: WAS HURRICANE HARVEY A SEA-CHANGE FOR TEXAS PROPERTY LAW?

Hurricanes and natural disasters are often accompanied by a tidal wave of property-coverage lawsuits, and the same can be expected in the wake of the devastation wrought on the Texas coast by Hurricane Harvey in August of 2017. Hurricane Harvey is reportedly tied with Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone on record, inflicting $125 billion in damage, primarily from catastrophic flooding in the Houston- metropolitan area and the broader Southeast Texas coastal region. (National Hurricane Center, 2018). Although these lawsuits have not yet begun winding their ways through the appellate courts in large numbers, now is a good time to look at changes and rulings in the law that will affect those claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]