American Family Mutual Insurance v. Schmitz

¶ 1. James, Jr., and Jody Schmitz argue that they were insured for their losses when their home collapsed during heavy rains in June 2008. They acknowledge that their insurance policy with American Family Mutual Insurance Company excluded damages resulting from surface water and flooding. But they assert that the policy excepts collapses resulting from defective methods of construction and claim that their failure to build a retaining wall when adding onto their house caused rain to flow under their crawlspace, thus causing the damage — not surface water or flooding as independent forces. The…