In a statement, company spokesman Trent Frager said that Farmers initiated the lawsuits to recover money on behalf of its policyholders for losses that could have been avoided by municipalities, as well as to encourage cities and counties to take more preventative actions to reduce the risks of future natural disasters. But it seems the threat of legal action was enough to accomplish the insurance giant’s goals...Many analysts in the environmental law and insurance industry thought the lawsuits were both ambitious and problematic – but represented the first in a wave of legal actions against municipalities for the impacts of climate change... Michael Gerrard, director of the Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, told Environment and Energy Publishing that future legal actions may include professional malpractice claims against architects and engineers who build structures that don’t withstand predictable weather events or breaches of contract like a farm that can’t deliver oats to a cereal company because of a drought or flood...