Insurance Law Center: Catastrophic Loss

NEW! 4/17/2008 12:02:48 PM EST

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, LLP, on Louisiana v. AAA Ins.: Fifth Circuit Upholds Removal of Louisiana's "Road Home" Class Action

Posted by Richard L. Fenton
Partner, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal LLP

The State of Louisiana has made and is making so-called “Road Home” grants to Louisiana homeowners rebuilding homes damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The homeowners assign the right to all insurance benefits that may be due them, up to the amount of the grant. Louisiana contends that insurers have been denying benefits actually due, thereby reducing Louisiana’s recoveries. It filed a massive class action against more that 200 insurance car

Create an account or login to post comments. | Comments (0)

Catastrophic Loss

4/9/2008 10:09:56 AM EST

Partial Summary Judgment on in Bad Faith Case Arising Out of Hurricane Katrina

Posted by Robert M. Lopatin
Practice Area Editor, LexisNexis Matthew Bender

Judge Brian E. Sandoval of the U.S. District Court in Nevada awarded a partial summary judgment to a leading national gaming operator. Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., in an insurance coverage case arising out of Hurricane Katrina.

The c

Create an account or login to post comments. | Read Comments (1)

Catastrophic Loss

4/9/2008 8:59:49 AM EST

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP on Sher v. Lafayette Ins. Co.: Lousiana Supreme Court Enforces Flood Exclusion in Flooding of New Orleans

Posted by William T. Barker
Partner, Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal LLP

The Louisiana Supreme Court has unanimously enforced the flood exclusion for Hurricane Katrina losses in New Orleans. Sher had a five-unit apartment building that suffered some wind damage to the upper stories and had flood waters reach a level of four feet deep in the first level. The trial court held the flood exclusion ambiguous and ineffective. A jury made separate awards for damage to the upper stories and damage to the first level and a lost rents award for both parts o

Create an account or login to post comments. | Comments (0)

Catastrophic Loss

4/8/2008 9:05:10 AM EST

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP on Broussard v. State Farm: Fifth Circuit Clarifies Burdens of Proof on Wind v. Water

Posted by William T. Barker
Partner, Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal LLP

On April 7, 2008, the Fifth Circuit reversed a judgment for actual and punitive damages against State Farm in a Mississippi bad faith case arising out of Hurricane Katrina. Storm surge had left the Broussards’ home totally destroyed, leaving only the foundation slab. Their policy had “named peril” coverage for wind damage to their personal property and “open peril” coverage for da

Create an account or login to post comments. | Comments (0)

Catastrophic Loss

3/24/2008 11:58:33 AM EST

Reforming the Insurance Industry to Better Compensate Victims of Catastrophe

Posted by Robert M. Lopatin
Practice Area Editor, LexisNexis Matthew Bender

A plenary session at the ICLC Annual Meeting on February 28 was entitled “Confronting Catastrophe: Pandemics, Hurricanes, Terrorists – Oh My!” The program noted that “The extreme ruin caused by Hurricane Katrina would pale in comparison to a nationwide calamity, such as a flu pandemic. This audience interactive session will leverage the advice of experts, including professionals who endured Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, to explore the role of the legal prof

Continue reading >>

Create an account or login to post comments. | Read Comments (2)

Catastrophic Loss

3/22/2008 12:18:41 AM EST

March is "Hurricane Katrina and Catastrophic Loss Month" (more or less) on the Insurance Law Center

Posted by Karen C Yotis
LexisNexis Insurance Law Center Staff

We’re going to try something a little different in an effort to enrich your experience when you visit the insurance law center. With the assistance of that eclectic group known as the Insurance Law Center Advisory Board (two coverage attorneys, a couple of insurance law professors and a former insurance commissioner) we’ve formulated a list of issues—hot topics if you will—that we think will pique your interes

Continue reading >>

Create an account or login to post comments. | Comments (0)

Catastrophic Loss

3/3/2008 7:53:56 AM EST

Confronting Catastrophe: Pandemics, Hurricanes, Terrorists--Oh My!

Posted by Serena Wellen
LexisNexis Insurance Law Center Staff

James M. Davis now with Reed Smith LLP presented a paper he wrote with Noel C. Paul at the Feb. 28 Session at the ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Meeting in Tucson. The paper is titled, ”Compensating Victims of Catastrophes: Reforming the Insurance Industry, the Tort System and the Government.”

Davis and Paul's paper stated that neither the insurance industry, the courts, nor the government currently have fulfilled the promise of maki
Continue reading >>
Create an account or login to post comments. | Comments (0)

Catastrophic Loss

1/31/2008 12:31:25 PM EST

Louisiana Judge Reluctantly Dismisses U.S. Army Corps From Katrina Suit

Posted by Gina Cappello
LexisNexis Insurance Law Center Staff

While insurance coverage cases are normally the focus of the Hurricane Katrina litigation that I follow, an important non-insurance ruling in the Katrina Canal Breaches litigation is worth noting here.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr., for the Eastern District of Louisiana, dismissed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from a class action lawsuit alleging that the Corps' negligent design, construction, maintenance and operation of the Mississippi River Gul

Continue reading >>

Create an account or login to post comments. | Comments (0)

Catastrophic Loss

1/17/2008 7:03:03 PM EST

Insurers "Adversarial"? Bloomberg Report "Intellectually Shabby"? Insurance Scrawler Marc Mayerson Weighs In

Posted by Tom Hagy
VP LexisNexis

Lawyer and blogger Marc Mayerson generated a good bit of comment, and some useful links, in his post on the back-and-forth between Bloomberg and the insurance industry. Bloomberg reporters wrote that “when there's a disaster, the companies homeowners count on to protect them from financial ruin routinel

Continue reading >>

Create an account or login to post comments. | Read Comments (1)

Catastrophic Loss

11/29/2007 12:41:43 PM EST

Scruggs, Four Others Indicted For Attempt To Bribe State Judge

Posted by Gina Cappello
LexisNexis Insurance Law Center Staff

Prominent Mississippi attorney Richard Scruggs has made news headlines again. This time, the headlines are focused on an indictment handed down yesterday by a federal grand jury, alleging that he and four others attempted to bribe a state judge assigned to hear an attorney fee dispute stemming from a settlement of Hurricane Katrina claims with State Farm Insurance Co.

Also named in the indictment are Scruggs’ son, David Zachary Scruggs, and Sidney A. Backstrom, both attorneys a

Continue reading >>

Create an account or login to post comments. | Comments (0)

Catastrophic Loss

10/24/2007 12:05:28 PM EST

Prosecutors Claim Mississippi Attorney Willfully Violated Injunction

Posted by Gina Cappello
LexisNexis Insurance Law Center Staff

Since first reporting on the filing of criminal contempt charges against prominent Mississippi attorney Richard F. Scruggs (USA v. Scruggs, N.D. Ala., No. 07-325), special prosecutors have filed a reply to the attorney's response to show cause order and claim that Scruggs willfully violated a judge's preliminary injunction order in order to further his own economic interests. Prosecutors say the evidence will prove "that his [Scruggs'] plan was to pretend to misinterpret the

Continue reading >>

Create an account or login to post comments. | Comments (0)

Catastrophic Loss

8/31/2007 1:17:57 PM EST

5th Circuit Affirms Insureds Not Entitled To Additional Coverage For Katrina Damages

Posted by Gina Cappello
LexisNexis Insurance Law Center Staff

The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has had a busy month handing down rulings in Hurricane Katrina insurance coverage cases, issuing its fifth decision on Thursday in a Hurricane Katrina coverage case.

This time, the issue centered around an insurer's anti-concurrent clause in the case of Paul and Julie Leonard v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., (Nos. 06-61130 & 06-61131, 5th Cir.), on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District o

Continue reading >>

Create an account or login to post comments. | Comments (0)

	Let your voice be heard by joining the community today. Sign up.