Latest Louisiana Headlines

Portion of Former Louisiana AG’s Suit Against Insurers Dismissed

Mar 16 2009 // A federal judge in New Orleans has dismissed some claims in a lawsuit filed by a former Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti against dozens of insurance companies over payments to policyholders receiving funds from the...

Mississippi Officials Warn Against Buying Cottages in Auction

Mar 13 2009 // The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is discouraging people from purchasing Mississippi Cottages for housing at an auction in Louisiana next month because the units were damaged by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. MEMA...

Louisiana Insurance Agent Arrested

Mar 11 2009 // The Louisiana Department of Insurance reported that a St. Martinville insurance company employee has been arrested, served with a cease and desist order, notice of license revocation and a fine for alleged misappropriation...

Union Pacific Freight Car Carrying Molten Sulfur Derails in Louisiana

Mar 9 2009 // Louisiana State Police have lifted a shelter-in-place order resulting from the derailing of a freight train car carrying molten sulfur near Placquemine, La., on Mar. 7. The derailed freight car sprang a leak and dribbled...

Former Insurance Brokers Sentenced in Louisiana Bribery Scheme

Mar 6 2009 // Two major figures, both former insurance brokers, in a wide ranging investigation into corruption at the Orleans Parish School Board have been sentenced in federal court by U. S. District Judge Martin L. C. Feldman,...

Louisiana, Mississippi Among Highest Homeowner Rates in 2006

Mar 5 2009 // Louisiana homeowners paid the third-highest home insurance rates in 2006, while Mississippi was hit with the sixth-highest average bill for coverage, according to a report by a national group of state insurance...

Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Rates on Downswing

Feb 27 2009 // Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon says rates for workers’ compensation insurance continue to decrease in his state, based on a recent report from the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI)...

Allstate, State Farm Dismissed from Case Charging Katrina Overbilling

Feb 20 2009 // A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of Allstate Corp. and State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. from a lawsuit accusing them of overbilling the U.S. government for flood damage in Louisiana related to the 2005 storm...

Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Insurer to Pay $7.5M Dividend

Feb 18 2009 // Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation (LWCC) announced it will pay a $7.5 million dividend to qualifying policyholders in February. The pay out will bring LWCC’s cumulative total dividend paid to...

Louisiana Returned $6M-plus to P/C Insurance Consumers in 2008

Feb 12 2009 // Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announced that the Property and Casualty Consumer Affairs Division at the Department of Insurance aided Louisiana insurance consumers in receiving approximately $6,400,000 in...

Louisiana Lowest in Seat-Belt Use, Safety Commission Says

Feb 11 2009 // The National Highway Traffic and Safety Commission says Louisiana drivers are less likely to buckle up than drivers in any other state that has primary seat-belt enforcement laws. Last year, the Louisiana Highway Safety...

Louisiana: 1 in 5 Companies May Be Breaking Workers’ Comp Law

Feb 9 2009 // As many as one in five businesses in Louisiana may be breaking the law requiring them to insure their workers against accidents, so the state is stepping up enforcement, officials say. The Louisiana Workforce Commission...

Feb 8 2009 // 1 in 4 About one in four Oklahoma drivers is uninsured, the fourth-worst rate in the nation, according to the Insurance Research Council, which studied data from 2007. The study found 24 percent of drivers in Oklahoma were...

People

Feb 8 2009 // Linda Timmons has been promoted to director of communications for the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT). In this position, Timmons will manage the organization’s internal and external communications,...

Louisiana Agents Accused of Fraud, Theft, Pocketing Premiums

Feb 6 2009 // In two separate instances, Louisiana insurance agents recently have been accused of fraud and misappropriating premiums. In one case, the Louisiana Department of Insurance Fraud Section Investigators served Tamara Celeste...

Ex-Louisiana Insurance CEO Pleads Not Guilty to Theft

Feb 4 2009 // The former chief of Louisiana’s state-backed insurance company has pleaded not guilty in a criminal case that accuses him of fraudulently spending the firm’s money for personal travel and entertainment. Terry...

<em>AP</em> Analysis: Florida Insurance Bind Overshadows Louisiana

Feb 3 2009 // Louisiana homeowners stunned by their rising insurance rates should remember that it could be worse. They could live in Florida. State Farm announced recently that it will stop doing business in Florida, the first big firm...

Recession, Credit Crisis Stall Louisiana’s Hurricane Recovery Bonds

Feb 2 2009 // The U.S. recession and credit crisis have stalled a financing program created to help Louisiana recover from 2005’s devastating hurricanes, the southern state’s secretary for economic development told...

Insurers Seek Dismissal of Louisiana Road Home Suit

Feb 2 2009 // Lawyers for major insurance companies are asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses insurers of trying to profit from a grant program for homeowners devastated by Hurricane Katrina. U.S. District Judge...

Merrill Lynch Sued Over Costly New Orleans Stadium Bond Issue

Jan 30 2009 // The Louisiana Superdome authority in New Orleans has filed suit against Merrill Lynch over a $238 million stadium bond issue that exploded in interest costs after the market for government securities dried up last...