Ruling in 2013 Storm-Related Case Prompts Policy Reviews

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Dozens of ranchers are reportedly revising their insurance policies following a South Dakota Supreme Court ruling that allows a Quinn family to collect insurance for cattle that drowned during the autumn 2013 blizzard.

Silvia Christen is executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. She tells the Rapid City Journal she has been receiving a "disturbing number of calls" from ranchers who had a policy with De Smet Farm Mutual Insurance Co. of South Dakota. That's the insurer that covered the Quinn family during the blizzard.

Christen says adjusters with that insurance company have been calling ranchers, offering to revisit their cases and to settle those that were previously declined.

The high court in July ruled that Richard and Lorayna Papousek's insurance covers 93 yearling heifers that died in the storm under a drowning provision.

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