Justices reject flood insurance plea

The nation's highest court dealt a blow Tuesday to property owners who want insurance companies to pay for damage from levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina, but the Louisiana Supreme Court is poised to tackle the issue later this month.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from Xavier University and dozens of other Louisiana policyholders who sued several insurers for refusing to cover water damage from the levee breaches that flooded 80 percent of New Orleans following the August 2005 hurricane.

The plaintiffs were asking the justices to review portions of an August 2007 ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that insurers aren't obligated to cover water damage from a levee failure.

The 5th Circuit had refused to certify the issue as a question for the state Supreme Court to consider, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review that decision Tuesday.