Latest Mississippi Headlines
All the headlines from our Mississippi Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Miss. Insured Claims State Farm Coerced Katrina Statement
Oct 24 2006 // A Gulf Coast homeowner claims State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. coerced him into signing a statement that he is satisfied with its handling of his claim after Hurricane Katrina, even though it only paid for a fraction of...
Miss. looks to speed delivery of Katrina housing grants
Oct 23 2006 // The state of Mississippi is trying to speed up the processing of housing grants to get checks faster to homeowners in Hurricane Katrina damaged areas, according to aides to Gov. Haley Barbour. “(Barbour’s) not...
With 1,100 Katrina Lawsuits, Court Schedule Stretches into 2008
Oct 20 2006 // Federal court officials say trial dates have been set for 145 Hurricane Katrina-related insurance cases during 2007. Court officials said a similar number could be scheduled for sometime later in 2007 and in 2008. The...
Hurricane Center Identifies 10 Most Hurricane Vulnerable Areas
Oct 18 2006 // The entire East and Gulf Coasts are subject to hurricane impacts, but some areas are much more vulnerable than others. Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, director of the International Hurricane Research Center at Florida...
Junkin Named to Seat on Miss. Workers’ Comp Commission
Oct 17 2006 // Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has named Johnny Junkin, of Natchez, to the Workers’ Compensation Commission (MWCC) for an unexpired term ending January 1, 2007 and for a six-year term beginning January 1, 2007...
Miss. Fire Departments Receive $3M in Homeland Security Grants
Oct 16 2006 // Federal funding totaling almost $3 million has been approved for more than 23 volunteer and full-time fire departments throughout Mississippi, U.S. Senators Trent Lott and Thad Cochran announced. The funding will be...
Judge in Miss. Allows Questioning of State Farm Employees
Oct 6 2006 // A federal judge this week refused to block employees of State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. from being questioned under oath by lawyers in civil cases while they are targets of a criminal probe of the company’s handling...
Miss. Looks to Speed Up Delivery of Katrina Housing Grants
Oct 5 2006 // The state of Mississippi is trying to speed up the processing of housing grants to get checks faster to homeowners in Hurricane Katrina damaged areas, according to aides to Gov. Haley Barbour. “(Barbour’s) not...
State Farm Wants Katrina Trial Moved, Claiming Jury Pool Bias in Miss.
Oct 3 2006 // The jury pool in south Mississippi has been tainted by “media propaganda” about the insurance industry’s handling of claims after Hurricane Katrina, a major insurer argued in a bid to move the trials for...
Federal Grand Jury in Miss. Seeks State Farm Transcript
Oct 1 2006 // A federal grand jury in Jackson, Miss., has ordered a transcript from an Oklahoma case in which State Farm Insurance Co. was hit with a $13 million judgment involving a lawsuit by policyholders from a 1999 tornado. Records...
Scruggs weighs moving Miss. Katrina cases to state court
Sep 25 2006 // In a blow to hundreds of Mississippi homeowners whose insurance claims were denied after Hurricane Katrina, a federal judge has ruled that they must file their lawsuits individually instead of in mass actions. Richard...
State Farm Outlines Cutbacks on Miss. Gulf Coast
Sep 18 2006 // State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. has clarified the areas along Mississippi’s three southern most counties where it will not new property insurance policies. The company had announcement the change last Wednesday....
State Farm Says No New Policies Within 2,500 Feet of Miss. Coastline
Sep 15 2006 // State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. will no longer offer new property insurance policies within 2,500 feet of the coastline in some areas of Mississippi’s Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties. The company made the...
Miss. Sheriff Resigns, Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement
Sep 14 2006 // Lincoln County, Miss., Sheriff Wiley Calcote resigned Tuesday and pleaded guilty to a single state charge of embezzlement. Calcote, who was in his first term, was indicted on 15 counts of embezzlement by a public official...
Miss. Weighs Tax Break for Modular Homes to Speed Rebuilding
Sep 11 2006 // A group of Mississippi lawmakers last week quizzed some makers of modular homes about the quality and construction of their products. But after hours of discussion, legislators left the Capitol without making...
Miss. Judge Rules Against Mass Action on Katrina Lawsuits
Sep 10 2006 // In a blow to hundreds of Mississippi homeowners whose insurance claims were denied after Hurricane Katrina, a federal judge has ruled that policyholders suing their insurers must file their lawsuits individually instead of...
OSHA Levies $86K in Fines in Miss. Casino Construction Deaths
Sep 8 2006 // The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued proposed fines of $85,575 against three companies in the March deaths of two construction workers during the demolition of hurricane-damaged Grand Casino in...
Casinos Help Miss. Economy Recover from Hand Dealt by Katrina
Sep 8 2006 // Cynthia Smith remembers the horror her family endured when Hurricane Katrina’s flood waters rolled into their Gulfport, MIssissippi home and turned her world upside down. Smith and several family members —...
Miss. Supreme Court to Hear Lead Paint Liability Appeal
Sep 6 2006 // The Mississippi Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a mother and son who lost a lawsuit that claimed Sherwin Williams Co. was responsible for the lead paint that made the boy sick. The suit was filed in 2000 in...
A year later, insurers report 95% of Katrina claims settled in La. and Miss.
Sep 4 2006 // One year after Hurricane Katrina, the insurance industry says that nearly 95 percent of homeowners insurance claims have been settled in Louisiana and Mississippi, insurance companies have paid billions in storm damage...
