Farmer wins levee breach dispute case

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A United States district judge has ruled in favor of a Southeast Missouri farmer whose property was damaged by floodwaters after the 2011 breach of Birds Point Levee.

The defendant in the case, Cornerstone National Insurance Company, from whom Mississippi County farm owner McIvan Jones purchased flood insurance policies in April 2011, initially refused to pay Jones' insurance claims, citing that "recovery was precluded by 'flood-in-progress' exclusions within the policies.

A lawsuit filed in Mississippi County by Jones and attorney J. Michael Ponder of Cook, Barkett, Ponder and Wolz of Cape Girardeau, details the damages sustained to Jones' farmland property after exponential flooding from the breached levee, which was detonated by the U.S. Corps of Engineers on May 2, 2011.

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