Latest Louisiana Headlines

All the headlines from our Louisiana Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Fraud fight up against budget shortfalls

Jun 2 2008 // But Southeast states show some progress, with auto ‘give-ups’ among the targets Budget shortfalls have slowed the progress of fraud bills in many states around the U.S. while lawmakers feverishly work to find...

Louisiana House OKs Car Insurance Hike

Jun 2 2008 // Louisiana’s House of Representatives voted May 19 to raise the minimum level of required automobile insurance, an increase that would mean higher insurance costs for over 1 million motorists. Supporters of raising...

Louisiana Train Derailment Highlights Need for Railroad Safety Measures

Jun 2 2008 // Lafayette incident notwithstanding, rail accidents down nearly 25 percent nationally More than 3,000 residents of Lafayette, La., were evacuated May 17, 2008, when a train derailed on a bridge, spilling 10,000 gallons of...

Credit Woes May Cause Turbulence in Catastrophe Markets

Jun 2 2008 // Florida, Louisiana and Texas may be most at risk The credit crunch in the U.S. financial markets that boiled over due to the subprime mortgage meltdown may affect the ability of insurers and reinsurers that cover coastal...

La. Supreme Court upholds appeals court decision in wind versus water case

Jun 2 2008 // The Louisiana Supreme Court on May 21 upheld an appeals court’s decision regarding the state’s “valued policy law” (VPL) in a “wind versus water” case stemming from Hurricane Rita in...

Over Protests of Insurers, Businesses, La. Senate OKs Prosthetics Bill

May 29 2008 // Beginning next year, health insurance policies written in Louisiana would have to provide at least $50,000 worth of coverage for those who need artificial limbs, under legislation approved 26-7 by the state Senate. There...

Local Officials in Louisiana in Dark About Chemicals on Trains

May 27 2008 // Railway officials do not publicize the types of dangerous chemicals that pass every day through communities like Lafayette, La., citing safety concerns in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, world. But even first responders often...

Louisiana Supreme Court Agrees with Insurer in Wind v. Water Case

May 23 2008 // The Louisiana Supreme Court on May 21 upheld a previous appeals court’s decision upholding the state’s “valued policy law” (VPL). The plaintiffs in Mark Landry and Barbara Landry V. Louisiana...

Guns in Locked Cars at Workplace OK under Louisiana Senate Bill

May 23 2008 // Employees in Louisiana would have the right to keep a legally owned firearm locked in their car in a parking lot at their place of work, if the House goes along with a bill approved 28-4 in the state Senate. Senator Joe...

Louisiana House OKs Car Insurance Hike

May 21 2008 // Louisiana should raise the minimum level of required automobile insurance, the House of Representatives voted on May 19, an increase that would mean higher insurance costs for over 1 million motorists. Supporters of...

Train Derailment, Acid Leak Forces Louisiana Evacuation

May 19 2008 // Six cars of a freight train derailed Saturday, May 17, causing a hydrochloric acid leak that forced thousands of people to leave homes, businesses and a nursing home within one mile of the wreck. The spilled acid sent a...

October Trial Date Set for La. Legislator in Insurance Fraud Case

May 19 2008 // A federal judge set an Oct. 6 trial date for a Louisiana legislator charged with helping launder money for a woman accused of illegally selling insurance. Sen. Derrick Shepherd, who was indicted in April, did not appear in...

It Figures

May 19 2008 // $1.5 Billion The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association is asking the Texas Department of Insurance for the go-ahead to purchase $1.5 billion in catastrophe reinsurance coverage over a retention of $600 million. TWIA is...

South Central Workers’ Comp Markets Show Signs of Improvement

May 19 2008 // Arkansas Workers’ comp premium rates in Arkansas will continue on the declining path they have followed since the state passed workers’ compensation legislative reform in 1993, when a 12.8 percent rate decrease...

Injury Hotspots From Coast to Coast

May 19 2008 // Workplaces are getting safer each year; but that doesn’t mean the cost of workers’ comp coverage will decline Ongoing efforts to curb workplace injuries have made substantial progress in most parts of the...

Louisiana Legislature Doing Homework on Insurance, Lobbyist Says

May 16 2008 // About 55 percent of the lawmakers in the 2008 Louisiana Legislature are new to the job but they are doing their homework on insurance issues, one surplus lines insurance industry representative says. David Tatman of Baton...

Court to Hear Appeal in Former Louisiana AG’s Katrina Antitrust Suit

May 14 2008 // A federal appeals court in New Orleans agreed to consider whether an antitrust lawsuit that former Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti filed against some of the nation’s largest insurance companies belongs in...

Louisiana Citizens CEO Gets Raise

May 14 2008 // Louisiana’s insurer of last resort collected $4 million extra in reinsurance from the 2005 hurricanes and, at the suggestion of the state insurance commissioner, rewarded its chief executive with a 10 percent...

Workers’ Comp Costs-Per-Claim in High Louisiana, Research Group Says

May 12 2008 // Workers’ compensation costs per claim in Louisiana were 28 percent higher than the median of 14 study states for a similar set of 2003/2006 claims, according to a new study by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Workers...

Alabama Joins 3 other Katrina-stricken States to Update House Panel

May 12 2008 // An Alabama official estimates the state needs between $100 million to $110 million – double its allocated federal aid – to address persistent housing needs in 22 counties declared disaster areas from Hurricane...