Hurricane Ida

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The Louisiana Property and Casualty Insurance Commission is a panel created by statute and made up of members from various backgrounds representing government, consumers, and members of the insurance industry. The panel exists to suggest changes and improve the State’s insurance market. To that end, the Commission reviews and examines issues affecting the availability and affordability of property and casualty insurance and creates a report covering its findings. I was reviewing the most recent report, which covers 2019 and 2020, and I thought it was interesting just how much has changed since the last report was released.
Continue Reading Back-to-Back Years of Major Hurricanes Quickly Changed Louisiana’s Property Insurance Marketplace

The Louisiana legislature heard a lot of testimony and complaints about property insurance carriers that were not only slow-paying but also far too low-paying on hurricane claims following Hurricane Ida. The stories were similar to the post earlier this week where a federal judge found an insurance company guilty of bad faith for slow payment in Claim Delay Leads to Bad Faith Judgement.
Continue Reading Slow and Lowball Paying Insurance Companies—Why Is It Happening?

The Louisiana Department of Insurance established a voluntary mediation program for residential claims less than $50,000 in dispute that went into effect yesterday. The bulletin announcing this program explained the historical basis for this program:

In the wake of property devastation caused in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, the Louisiana Department of Insurance (‘LOI’) issued Emergency Rule 22, which established a mandatory mediation program. The mediations conducted pursuant to Emergency Rule 22 resulted in the mediation of approximately 12,000 property damage disputes with a very high success rate. Given the success of that mediation program, the LOI is optimistic that a similar mediation program, to be known as the “Hurricane Ida Mediation Program” (the ‘Program’), could yield similar success.

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Continue Reading Hurricane Ida Voluntary Mediation Program For Residential Claims

The President of the United States and the Insurance Commissioner of Louisiana have come out publicly asking insurance companies to pay for customers’ increased living expenses under their homeowners policies. The editors of the FC&S recently published an opinion supporting these requests.
Continue Reading Hurricane Ida Additional Living Expense Coverage Supported By FC&S Editors

Anybody who joined me for our Hurricane Ida webinar yesterday could tell that Steve Mullins is an aggressive and experienced property insurance advocate. Steve was born in New Orleans and is the eldest son of Louisiana parents. Steve grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Ocean Springs. He is a proud graduate of Ocean Springs High School, where he was active in football, student government, and all sorts of fun that is available when you live along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I know about those fun things because I lived in Waveland, Mississippi, for three of my best formative years.
Continue Reading Steve Mullins With Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Ties Joins Merlin Law Group