You may want to file in small claims court. Only four states have limits lower than what you are owed.

You say you have no lease - have you ever had a lease? Lack of a lease will not work in your favor. Gentleman's agreements are easy until something goes wrong and then they make it very difficult to enforce your rights.

Unless your renter's insurance has extra coverage for moving/storage fees, I doubt you'll be getting this money. YOUR insurance should pay for YOUR possessions, but it probably wont pay for the expense of hiring a moving company and a storage room, unless you bought a very pricey renter's policy. To have them tell you your landlords insurance would cover this expense and not accept your claim sounds like you need to take your insurance company to court, not the landlord. Personal property owned by tenants, such as clothing, electronics and other personal possessions, aren't covered under most landlords insurance policies. This MAY BE why he wont give you the money because you were using the property for personal possessions - if he gives you the money, he's committing an immediate act of insurance fraud, but that's beside the point, because claiming your business possessions as his IS STILL FRAUD. Use this as a lesson and get good RENTER'S INSURANCE. Anyone that rents needs their own insurance, don't depend on the landlord's generosity (or even them HAVING insurance that covers anything inside the building, most landlord's insurance DOESN'T, bare bones landlord policies cover JUST THE STRUCTURE). Be sure your renters insurance covers damage by water, not all do. Carefully inventory everything you need covered, and take photos of the bigger/more expensive items. It sounds an awful lot like your insurance company is trying to "pass the buck" to your landlord's insurance by telling you that HIS Personal Property Protection will pay for YOUR possessions - this is simply not the case, even if he has Personal Property Protection and Emergency Removal of Property add-ons, it means it pays for HIS possessions in the building, NOT YOURS, and while it's true that some landlords might BE NICE GUYS and pass this along to you, this is not only not legally required, but INSURANCE FRAUD. Basically, your insurance company is telling you to commit fraud by having your landlord claim your possessions IE: "contents" as HIS so HIS policy will pay HIM and then he can just give the money to you. Fraud. Pure, simple fraud. Very illegal. Take your insurance company to court, not the landlord (although if he accepted money for your possessions, he committed fraud and he should be turned in for this as well).

The bad news: you lose all the way around. The good news: you can take down a lot of people with you to fulfill your vindictive desires. *cue the maniacal laughter*

http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/776/blog_posts/7262-tenant-vs-landlord
http://www.allstate.com/tools-and-resources/know-your-policy/landlord/not-covered.page
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-landlord-insurance.htm
http://www.landlordology.com/6-clauses-in-landlord-insurance-policy/
http://www.allstate.com/home-insurance/landlord-property-insurance.aspx