Latest Louisiana Headlines

Regulators: 40,000 Policies to be Removed From Louisiana Citizens

Oct 9 2008 // Six insurance companies, some participating in the Insure Louisiana Incentive Program, want to assume 46,898 policies from the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation by Dec. 1, 2008. However, Citizens CEO John...

Louisiana Senator Says State Declared Agricultural Disaster

Oct 8 2008 // U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., announced that Louisiana has been declared an agricultural disaster by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). On Sept. 10, Sen. Landrieu and the rest of the Louisiana delegation wrote...

Louisiana Regulator Honored by National Insurance Society

Oct 8 2008 // Ron Musser, the assistant commissioner of Financial Solvency for the Louisiana Department of Insurance, has received the Al Greer Achievement Award from the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society (IRES), the department...

Louisiana Lawmakers Seek Limit on Named Storm Deductibles

Oct 7 2008 // Key Louisiana lawmakers plan to challenge property insurers by trying to limit the special deductibles they can impose when homes are damaged by tropical storms and hurricanes. The so-called “named-storm”...

Louisiana Citizens Board Approves Increase

Oct 7 2008 // The governing board of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state’s “last resort” property insurer, on Oct. 6 approved a 14 percent statewide average rate hike. The Associated Press...

Investigation: Ike’s Toll on Environment a Heavy One

Oct 7 2008 // Hurricane Ike’s winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil...

Combined Damages from Gustav and Ike in Louisiana Could Reach $20B

Oct 6 2008 // Preliminary estimates of the combined total physical damage in Louisiana from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike range from roughly $8 billion to $20 billion, not including “temporary economic activity losses or damage to...

Louisiana’s Crops, Forests, Fisheries Suffered From Hurricanes

Oct 6 2008 // Louisiana agriculture, forestry and fisheries suffered an estimated $950 million in losses and damages from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, according to the Louisiana State University AgCenter. The figure is expected to rise as...

Former Louisiana Commissioner Gets Law License Back

Oct 1 2008 // The Louisiana Supreme Court has restored the law license of former state Insurance Commissioner James H. “Jim” Brown Junior, who served six months in prison on a federal conviction of lying to FBI agents. Found...

Ike Pummels Louisiana-based Restaurants

Sep 30 2008 // Three years after Hurricane Katrina brought New Orleans’ restaurant industry to its knees, Hurricane Ike has delivered a crippling blow to three New Orleans area restaurant families. Middendorf’s, the legendary...

Gustav and Ike Blasted Louisiana’s Crops, Forestry and Fisheries

Sep 29 2008 // Louisiana agriculture, forestry and fisheries suffered an estimated $950 million in losses and damages in this month’s hurricanes, according to the Louisiana State University AgCenter. And the figure, officials say,...

Damages Limit at Issue in LA Train Crash

Sep 25 2008 // In the wake of the deadly train collision in Los Angeles, California’s U.S. senators are questioning a federal law that sets a $200 million limit on damage payouts to victims of a train crash. With 25 dead and more...

Declarations

Sep 22 2008 // Do Not Come Back “Galveston has been hit hard. We have no power. We have no gas. We have no communications. We’re not sure when any of that will be up and running. … We want our citizens to stay where...

Damage Costs Mount From Gustav

Sep 22 2008 // As Hurricane Ike loomed in the Gulf of Mexico, insurers and officials in Gulf Coast states were still tallying damage costs from Hurricane Gustav, which swept into Louisiana on Sept. 1. Switzerland-based global reinsurer,...

How Agents Prepared and Fared as Gustav Hit Gulf States

Sep 22 2008 // On the morning of Sept. 1, Gustav’s eye made landfall on the Louisiana coast just shy of Category 3 status. Experts estimate Gustav caused about $8 billion to $10 billion in insured damage. On Aug. 29 as Hurricane...

Sep 22 2008 // Austin, Texas-based insurance education provider, The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research, selected Kathleen G. Speer as director of national business for the not-for-profit organization. Prior to...

Texas, Louisiana Enact Emergency Rules for Hurricane Relief

Sep 22 2008 // Insurance regulators in both Texas and Louisiana have enacted emergency rules aimed at providing relief for insurance consumers in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The Louisiana Department of Insurance issued...

Gustav Damages to Louisiana Crops, Fisheries Hits $419M

Sep 22 2008 // Hurricane Gustav caused an estimated $372 million in damage to Louisiana crops, agriculture officials said. The storm overflowed crawfish and catfish ponds, causing an estimated $46 million in damages to fisheries. Gustav...

Hurricane Gustav Disaster Declaration Extended for Louisiana

Sep 19 2008 // Twenty-five Louisiana parishes are now able to get federal aid to rebuild their buildings and facilities damaged by Hurricane Gustav. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has extended its Gustav disaster declaration in...

Ark., La. Commissioners Reassure Policyholders After AIG Bailout

Sep 18 2008 // Both Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Julie Benafield Bowman and Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon have issued statements seeking to reassure policyholders in the wake of the federal takeover of insurance...