Flooded Tuckahoe condominium sues insurer for $1.7M

A Tuckahoe condominium that was flooded last September during superstorm Ida’s cataclysmic rampage through New York has sued its floor insurance provider for $1.7 million.

The Rivervue Condominium at 1 Scarsdale Road claims that Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co. has not fully honored the flood insurance policy, according to a complaint filed Aug. 16 in U.S. District Court in White Plains.

Remnants of Hurricane Ida tore through the Northeast last September, spawning tornadoes, dumping record-setting rainfalls, deluging rivers and overwhelming infrastructure. Eighty-seven people were killed in the United States, according to a National Hurricane Center report, including 17 in New York.

The Rivervue is next to the Bronx River and is in a flood zone, as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The river crested by several feet on Sept. 1, the complaint states, and flooded Buildings 17 and 19.

The flood insurance policy covers only certain necessary equipment, such as furnaces and fuel tanks, in basements or spaces below the lowest elevated floors.

The lobby of Building 17 and the first floor of Building 19 were extensively damaged, according to the complaint, and the Rivervue submitted claims to Metropolitan.

Metropolitan agreed to compensate the condominium for a portion of the damages, the complaint states, but did not fully cover the losses.

The insurer allegedly took the position that the damages were in basements or below the lowest elevated floor, where insurance coverage was limited.

The Rivervue claims that the damaged areas are not below the lowest elevated floors and are not basements by FEMA terms because all of the walls are not below ground.

The condominium sued Metropolitan for breach of contract for allegedly refusing to pay $1,372,755 for damages in Building 17 and $365,036 for Building 19.

A Metropolitan spokesman did not respond to an email asking for the insurer’s side of the story.

The Rivervue is represented by Manhattan attorneys Anne M. Bossart and Johnathan C. Lerner.