BearWaters locked in legal battle over flood payouts

Jun. 29—BearWaters Brewing is currently locked in an active lawsuit with an insurance agency over flood payouts, though its lawsuit against the actual insurance company has been dismissed.

The Canton brewery was suing American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida and is still embroiled in a lawsuit against insurance agency, Patton, Morgan and Clark, in federal court.

Bearwaters launched the suit after being denied flood insurance funds following Canton's 2021 flood.

The brewery alleges that in 2019 it refinanced the Canton property. BearWaters already had flood insurance on a neighboring storage building but needed to add flood insurance to the brewery as part of the refinancing.

"BearWaters understood that Defendant Patton communicated directly with the refinance company for the purpose of ensuring that appropriate coverage was obtained for 101 Park Street," the lawsuit alleges.

In their response, Patton, Morgan and Clark claim the refinancing was undertaken for the storage building property rather than the brewery.

The two separate properties were later merged. The brewery informed their insurance provider that "their primary business location had changed, and insurance coverage needed to be adjusted accordingly," the lawsuit alleges.

Once the flooding rolled in, BearWaters took on significant damage from the water. After filing its insurance claim, BearWaters was denied funds for the brewery location.

BearWaters did receive $24,248 for the damage to the storage building but did not receive a payout for the main brewery site.

American Bankers are no longer involved in the lawsuit, however, as the accusations made against the company have been dismissed by a federal judge.

The judge found that BearWaters had summated a "Commercial Policy Change Request" to update the mailing address for the property. They also found that changing the mailing address did not change what building was actually insured.

"The request, however, did not change the building that was insured under the policy," the judge's decision reads. "The Penland Street Storage Building — a one-floor, slab-on-grade building for use as an office/storage — remained the insured building. American Bankers issued a Revised Policy Declaration to the Plaintiff in response, reflecting the change in address, but with the same building description as the previous declaration: one floor, slab on grade, warehouse/storage."

The lawsuit against Patton, Morgan and Clark Insurance Agency continues. BearWaters alleges that it had relied on the agency's "specialized experience in the insurance field." The agency should have informed BearWaters if the brewery was not adequately insured, the suit claims

The agency disagrees.

"PMC admits that it fulfilled any and all legal duties owed," its response states.

Patton, Morgan and Clark filed a motion to have the lawsuit against its agency dismissed. A judge denied that motion last week.

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