Farmers Insurance is suing a number of Chicago area municipalities for failing to plan and upgrade infrastructure appropriately in the face of extreme weather associated with climate change — in this case a major storm that caused sewer and stormwater drain problems, inflicting in turn major property damage claims by Farmers insured.
It's an interesting case — and possibly opportunistic for Farmers and other insurance carriers — but it may be one more step in pushing costs associated with climate change to the parties responsible for it. The negligence argument may have some partial merit — not that most municipalities are in a position to spend the money needed to keep up their infrastructure (though that, in turn, is ultimately a choice of the citizenry / taxpayers). But if they do face damages to Farmers, how long before either (a) major carbon producers start getting sued by cities, or states, or the feds, or (b) these sorts of costs end up getting pushed to the national level, which would create pressure to, again, get some money from the businesses and people both contributing to climate change and exerting political pressure to avoid doing something about it.
Or the courts will decide the insurance companies can pound sand, said companies will get out of the business or jack up their coverage costs tremendously, and individual property owners will get stuck paying the increasing and externalized costs of carbon waste.
In Landmark Class Action, Farmers Insurance Sues Local Governments For Ignoring Climate Change
Last month Farmers Insurance Co. filed nine class-action lawsuits arguing that local governments in the Chicago area are aware that climate change is leading to heavier rainfall but are failing to prepare accordingly.