Latest Mississippi Headlines

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

Miss. agrees to $80 million wind pool relief plan

Mar 26 2007 // Mississippi lawmakers have agreed upon a plan to use $20 million in premium taxes on policies statewide to help lower premiums for property owners in high-risk areas who are insured by the wind pool. The plan hashed out...

Dale Says He’ll Fight Removal from MIss. Democratic Ballot

Mar 21 2007 // Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale says he’ll take legal action to fight the Mississippi Democratic Party executive committee’s decision to remove him from the ballot. “I intend to continue to...

In Miss., Dale Moves In with State Farm Settlement as Scruggs Withdraws

Mar 21 2007 // State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. will re-examine more than 35,000 Mississippi policyholder claims filed after Hurricane Katrina and “make millions of dollars available” for additional payments, Mississippi...

As Insurance Premiums Soar After Katrina, Some in La. Are ‘Going Bare’

Mar 21 2007 // Disgusted with his insurance company after Hurricane Katrina, the Rev. Simmie Harvey let his New Orleans homeowner policy lapse and left his house in the hands of a higher power. Somebody up there must like the 88-year-old...

Miss. Commissioner Dale Blocked from Running as Democrat

Mar 19 2007 // Insurance Commissioner George Dale has run as a Democrat eight times in his political career. But this year to his frustration, he won’t be allowed to do so. The Mississippi Democratic Executive Committee denied...

Settlement Reached in Miss. Homeowner’s Case Against State Farm

Mar 19 2007 // State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. avoided the court room and possibly days of litigation by settling out of court with a D’Iberville homeowner who sued the company after Hurricane Katrina reduced her house to a...

Miss. Gov. Signs Insurance Tax Credit, Trauma Care and Other Bills

Mar 19 2007 // Mississippians will be eligible for income tax credits on some long-term health insurance premiums, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Haley Barbour. The law says taxpayers can get credit for up to $500, or 25 percent,...

Miss. Commissioner: State Farm to Reopen Katrina Claims

Mar 19 2007 // Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale said he has convinced State Farm to reopen and readjust all Hurricane Katrina claims in the Mississippi coastal counties upon request of policyholders. He said State Farm has...

Fixing Miss. Wind Pool Key to Future Markets, Says Dale

Mar 15 2007 // How Mississippi handles its wind pool could very well determine the future of the state’s property insurance market, according to the state’s insurance commissioner. “[O]ne of the major problems that I...

EPA Allows Demolition of 1,200 Hurricane-Damaged Homes in Miss.

Mar 15 2007 // About 1,200 hurricane-damaged homes in south Mississippi can be torn down under rules that have been extended by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA’s No Action Assurance program runs until Sept. 30 for...

Request Withdrawn for Judge to Approve Miss. State Farm Settlement

Mar 14 2007 // Some of the lawyers who helped negotiate a proposed settlement with State Farm Insurance Cos. over Hurricane Katrina damage claims withdrew their request Monday for a federal judge to approve the multimillion dollar...

La. Isn’t the Only Coastal State With Insurance Troubles

Mar 12 2007 // Eighteen months after the hurricanes, “crisis” is the term everyone uses to describe Louisiana’s insurance problems. The governor spends much of her time begging insurance companies to continue doing...

Judge Senter weighs binding arbitration in Miss. State Farm Katrina settlement

Mar 12 2007 // U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr., the federal judge weighing competing plans to resolve thousands of disputed claims in Mississippi against State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. after Hurricane Katrina, held a hearing...

Settlement in Katrina Lawsuit Over Damage to Miss. Rental Home

Mar 8 2007 // A federal trial ended abruptly Tuesday when State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. settled out of court with a couple who sued the company over Hurricane Katrina damages to a rental home they own. U.S. District Judge Peter...

Judge Weighs Miss. Katrina Class Action, State Farm Settlement

Mar 2 2007 // A federal judge weighing competing plans to resolve thousands of disputed claims against State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. after Hurricane Katrina heard emotional testimony Wednesday in Gulfport from Mississippi...

Resetting State Farm’s Katrina punitive damages

Feb 26 2007 // At the trial of this cause of action, this Court submitted instructions to the jury for it to determine whether punitive damages should be awarded and, if so, in what amount. After deliberating, the jury returned a verdict...

Katrina lawsuits: Are the winds of fortune changing for insurers?

Feb 26 2007 // In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when it became apparent that property losses would total billions of dollars, the insurance industry was understandably concerned that courts in Mississippi and Louisiana...

Bullies and barons

Feb 26 2007 // We’re looking a robber baron in the face. State Farm is not a responsible corporate citizen.” That’s Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood attacking State Farm after the insurer, still reeling from...

Miss. AG Hood picks fight with State Farm over pullback

Feb 26 2007 // Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said he will seek legislation aimed at blocking State Farm Insurance Cos. from refusing to write new homeowners and commercial policies in the hurricane-battered state. Hood’s...

The Commissioners: George Dale

Feb 26 2007 // Battered but not beaten, Mississippi focuses on helping people A former high school principal, George Dale is now the longest serving state insurance commissioner in the nation. He has been elected by the people of...