First party property causation, New England style

One of my friends who follows this stuff more closely than I have been able to do since the Scruggs Supernova happened has been sending me copies of court decisions on property loss causation. This is a subject I take a great deal of interest in, and I'm going to comment on the causation analysis of two recent decisions, one from New Hampshire and one from Vermont.The more recent case is Bates v. Phenix Mutual Fire Ins. Co., a February 13 decision by the New Hampshire Supreme Court. A large rainstorm caused flooding behind a roadway, and a culvert under the road was inadequate to carry relieve the pressure of the built-up water, which burst through the roadway and flooded the policyholder's real and personal property. Although the insured's homeowners policy contained an anti-concu