In an abrupt move, Farmers Insurance Group dropped its recently filed lawsuit against the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, the City of Chicago and its suburbs for their alleged failure to prevent flooding and sewage backups related to climate change. As reported in the May 2014 Sustainability and Security Report, the lawsuit sought reimbursement of claims the company paid to homeowners after a two-day extreme precipitation event in April 2013.
As reported by the Chicago Tribune, the insurer stated: “We believe our lawsuit brought important issues to the attention of the respective cities and counties, and that our policyholders' interests will be protected by the local governments going forward.” The defendants named in the lawsuit, as well as many legal experts looking at the case, believed that the lawsuit had tenuous legal standing, would have been costly to pursue and, ultimately, would have been very difficult for Farmers to win.