Feds to pay $32M to Duplin Co. farmers for hurricane damage.

Byline: David Baugher, BridgeTower Media Newswires

Farmers in Duplin County and adjacent areas should see an estimated $32 million in federal compensation after the resolution of a court case over a hurricane wind endorsement to an insurance policy, the farmers' attorneys report.

Scott Flowers and Damon Gray II of Hutchens Law Firm in Fayetteville report that Duplin County had initially been excluded from coverage for damage from Hurricane Isaias, which made landfall near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in August 2020. Although Isaias hit Duplin County, there was a dispute over the formula to be used in deciding whether farmers were due compensation for crop damage.

Flowers said that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publishes a data point for hurricanes every three hours, and the first point at which the weakening weather system was classified as a tropical storm was inside the county. His clients contended that the language of the endorsement indicated that this required the government to cover Duplin as well as adjacent counties.

"The farmers in Duplin County were confused about why they were excluded because all the news reports said that Hurricane Isaias had gone right through Duplin County," Flowers said. "We started looking into this, and we found that the RMA [Risk Management Agency] had published a formula to determine which counties were triggered."

Flowers said the government employed a process of "interpolation" to determine where the hurricane strength winds had weakened, but he argued that such a methodology wasn't what had initially been published when the farmers purchased the insurance. He said the language has since been changed to reflect the new policy.

Flowers represented only two individuals in the matter, which wasn't filed as a class action. But many more farmers are expected to reap compensation from coverage both in Duplin and in adjacent counties, which would also be covered by Duplin's inclusion. The exact number of beneficiaries was unclear, but Flowers said it could include hundreds of people.

Flowers said that federal crop insurance for hurricane damage doesn't...