Citizens of Louisiana decision could open new round of litig

 

Thursday, Apr 09,2009, 10:32:27 AM   Click:

Copyright: h Best Company, Inc.
Source: BestWire
Wordcount:

The Supreme Court of Louisiana has decided against hearing an appeal in a case involving the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the opening of the state insurance and other private carriers to more litigation related to the season hurricanes of 2005.

According to court documents, the state's highest court refused to hear Brenda Pitts v. Louisiana citizens. At the end of January ruling by the Circuit Court of Appeal in Pitts fourth can go ahead with its Hurricane Katrina-related lawsuit against the State of insurance, even if it filed the complaint in February 2008, and after a August 30, at the end of 2007 to file suits related storms of 2005. The decision overturns a decision by the Court of First Instance, which rejected Pitts' request (BestWire, 2 February 2009).

Now that the citizens before the Supreme Court was calmed, the lawyers have made a marketing campaign in search of customers, "said Greg LaCoste, regional director of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

"The big question is how many people are there, as Brenda Pitts," said LaCoste, a lawyer. "There are many people who settled after the storms, but lawyers are there to tell them now adapt the file anyway, because there is nothing to lose. "

LaCoste said Pitts decision could encourage insurers to increase loss reserves in anticipation of litigation, to create instability in the market. For citizens, the burden of hiring lawyers to defend against multiple claims "will be very, very expensive," said Lacoste.


It is still unknown how long the deadline for complaints has been extended. It can either be in May 2009 and May 2010.

Pitts' case was filed after the deadline because it was included in the class action filed against the petitions of citizens. A class action was launched by the court. In other cases, the court restricted the definition of class action to exclude those whose claims are not paid enough. " Pitts argues that the payments she received from citizens following Katrina were "very insufficient".

Before deciding on the action of each class Pitts left the deadline for Hurricane Katrina and Rita-related judicial expired. The appellate court found the period of Pitts to file a lawsuit has been suspended while its reasonable request was covered by the class action.

The top of homeowners writers multiperil in Louisiana in 2007, according to AM Best Co. state / line product information based on direct premiums written, were: State Farm Group, with a market share of 31 , 6%; Allstate Insurance Group, with 19.6%, Southern Farm Bureau Group, with 7.6%, Farmers Insurance Group, with 6.4% and Liberty Mutual Insurance Cos., with 4.4%.

(By Chad Hemenway, associate editor, BestWeek: Chad.Hemenway @ ambest.com)