Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon has denied a request by State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (State Farm) to introduce a regional deductible plan for its Louisiana homeowner’s program.
Donelon said the company’s request
View the Original article
New Orleans pie maker, Simon Hubig Co. Inc., whose Louisiana plant was destroyed in a blaze six months ago, has sued the Kenner company that created and maintained its fire suppression system.
The Times-Picayune reported the lawsuit, filed in New Orleans Civil District Court, alleges Fire & Safety Commodities’
View the Original article
The Louisiana Department of Insurance helped policyholders recover an additional $6.4 million in disputes with insurers in 2012.
Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon told The Advocate that insurers made the additional payments after consumers complained to the Insurance Department about the original claims payments. The department worked with both sides to resolve the disputes.
Donelon said the department received 4,927 consumer inquiries and more than 3,074 consumer complaints in 2012. Inquiries involve consumers asking for information.
Donelon said the majority of both inquiries and complaints involved property and casualty insurance.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: Louisiana consumer complaints, Louisiana consumer disputes, Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim DonelonHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says his department’s new online system will make it easier for Louisiana residents to shop for the best insurance rates in their cities.
The auto insurance guide launched Dec. 17 compares quotes for a 2004, 2007 or 2010 Toyota Camry driven by people of different ages, with different driving records. The homeowners’ guide compares quotes for a brick house that’s less than one year old or 5, 15 or 25 years old, at varying levels of coverage.
Take a 25-year-old house with $75,000 in building coverage, $37,500 for contents, a 2 percent hurricane deductible and a $500 deductible for all other peril. The 46 quotes for New Orleans, range from $596 to $3,370, with only four below $1,000. In Shreveport, 45 quotes for that scenario went from $466 to $1,184, with only five for more than $900.
View the Original article
Authorities say it could take up to three weeks to finish moving military propellant into storage at an explosives recycling company that caused the evacuation of a Louisiana town.
The town of Doyline was evacuated earlier this month after authorities said they found 6 million pounds of the material improperly stored at Explo Systems Inc.
Explo contracts with the military to demilitarize explosives and other materials.
The company rents space at a National Guard base in north Louisiana.
The material found improperly stored on the base is called M6 and is used as a propellant for artillery rounds.
Louisiana State Police spokesman Matt Harris says Wednesday that crews have moved 4.4 million pounds of product into proper storage sites.
A criminal investigation into the company’s handling of the product is ongoing.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: cleanup, hazardous materials, LouisianaHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
Louisiana State University has been awarded $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation to investigate whether southern coastal Louisiana has reached the tipping point, becoming too costly to sustain.
The interdisciplinary research project will investigate the sustainability of coastal communities that are especially vulnerable to natural resource loss and natural hazards.
View the Original article
A former Lafayette cardiologist is asking to remain free pending a request that the U.S. Supreme Court hear an appeal of his 2009 health-care fraud conviction and 10-year prison sentence.
The Advocate reports Dr. Mehmood M. Patel, who is accused of billing insurers for more than $2 million in unnecessary heart procedures, has avoided prison while appealing his federal conviction for the past three years.
The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Patel’s conviction sentence in August, and the court last week denied a request to reconsider the case.
Patel’s attorney, Amy Adelson, has asked the appeals court to allow Patel to remain free pending his request that the U.S. Supreme Court review the case.
View the Original article
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has waived the repayment of nearly $95 million that the agency believes was improperly paid to victims of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma
According to a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, FEMA also denied 1,293 requests totaling $6.3 million in improper payments and has recouped $1.3 million from applicants who got improper disaster payments.
At least some of the overpayments were due to FEMA employees’ own mistakes, ranging from clerical errors to failing to interview applicants, according to congressional testimony. In some cases, the errors resulted in FEMA providing applicants with duplicate payments.
FEMA said it is required by law to make an effort to recover improper payments, even if the recipient wasn’t at fault. Last December, Congress approved legislation that would allow FEMA to waive many of the debts.
The Times-Picayune reports the 18,283 waiver cases processed by FEMA represent 20 percent of the outstanding waivers, which total more than $371 million the agency said should be repaid. In addition to the money not recovered, implementing the waiver program has cost FEMA $4.8 million so far, and has resulted in the refund of $2.5 million to individuals who repaid their grant money, but were later granted a waiver, according to the report.
View the Original article
The number of work-related fatalities in 2011 in Louisiana declined to 109, according to a preliminary report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. This is down slightly from the revised figure of 111 deaths in 2010, and from 140 deaths in 2009.
The lower numbers are encouraging news for Louisiana, said LWC Executive Director Curt Eysink.
View the Original article
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration wants to shift $20 million in hurricane recovery dollars for hurricanes Gustav and Ike to fill in budget gaps in the state’s free preschool program for at-risk students.
The proposal, which requires approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has been posted for public comment.
The hurricane recovery dollars were included in the $75 million annual budget for the Cecil J. Picard LA4 Early Childhood Program for the fiscal year that began July 1, a budget approved by lawmakers in June.
Preschool access won’t expand with the money. The dollars will plug part of a budget hole created when federal stimulus funding that had been used for the program disappeared.
Jindal’s chief budget adviser, Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater, said the spending will help people impacted by the storms by offering pre-kindergarten education to 4-year-olds in low- to moderate-income families in hurricane-damaged parishes.
View the Original article
With Hurricane Isaac likely headed for the southeast coast of Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Insurance reports that it has implemented its Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), which is designed to ensure that the agency will operate with minimal interruptions in the event of a disaster.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall either tonight or early tomorrow morning.
Preparations made by divisions of the LDI include the following:
Insurance Company Emergency Adjuster Registration program prepared in case claims adjusters need to be sent to disaster areas; online registration ready.Call center ready to be activated by Property & Casualty Consumer Affairs Division.Travel teams assigned and ready for dispatch to Disaster Recovery Centers statewide.All insurance company contact information updated and ready to distribute to public and for call center staff.Post-Disaster Insurance Guide information assembled and ready to distribute.Employee Emergency Response System ready to instruct staff in case of office closure; all staff emergency communications equipment ready.Remote site for meeting with insurance industry selected (England Air Park
A last-minute provision added to legislation headed to the governor’s desk will give some relief to coastal property owners who get insurance through Louisiana’s state-run insurer of last resort.
The compromise language was devised by lawmakers seeking to lessen the blow of hefty rate increases on wind and hail policies for homeowners who are customers of the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
As sent to Gov. Bobby Jindal, the bill would lower insurance costs by 10 percent for Citizens customers in 12 parishes across south Louisiana.
Citizens is supposed to charge rates that are 10 percent higher than the private insurers in an area. The proposal backed by lawmakers on the final day of their just-ended regular session would scrap that requirement until August 2015 for the coastal parishes.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: legislation, louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., RatesHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
Broussard, La., officials say the city’s fire department will continue to respond to calls in rural Lafayette Parish, but city-parish government’s nonpayment for that service ultimately might put lives and property at risk.
The Advocate reports that information was contained in a letter Broussard officials sent to City-Parish President Joey Durel.
Lafayette fire officials maintain the larger city’s department can adequately serve the rural areas in question if Broussard cannot.
The fire protection contract could be one casualty in the ongoing spat between Durel and Broussard Mayor Charles Langlinais.
That dispute escalated last month when Durel announced he wanted to cut off formal service agreements with the smaller city, citing a strained relationship that dates back for several years.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: feud, fire safety, Louisiana, Safety & Loss ControlHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
A Chauvin, La., woman, who claims a deputy used unnecessary violence as television cameras rolled, has filed suit against the Terrebonne Sheriff’s Office and the production company of an upcoming TV show.
The suit says Angela Rodrigue, 47, was abused when arrested and the crew exacerbated it by egging on the deputy.
Court papers say Rodrigue was arrested outside her home Feb. 1 on charges of disturbing the peace by cursing, resisting arrest by violence and possession of drug paraphernalia.
If convicted at trial, she faces more than a year in prison.
The suit, filed in federal court, requests an unnamed amount of money in damages. It says sheriff’s deputy Paul Thibodeaux broke Rodrigue’s leg and tore the cartilage in her knee when he pulled her out of a parked car in her front yard. And, the suit says, Rodrigue was pulled out of the car while still in pain.
View the Original article
The Louisiana Workforce Commission will receive $2.95 million in federal funds to provide additional services to Louisiana’s unemployed, the U.S. Department of Labor announced.
The money will come from a Re-employment and Eligibility Assessment grant, part of $65.5 million to be distributed nationwide.
The $2.95 million REA grant will fund services through most of the state’s Business and Career Solutions Centers.
The grant will help fund the response to general levels of unemployment, and also several specific events that have or are expected to increase unemployment, including:
The British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010;The scheduled closure in August of General Motors’ plant in Northwest Louisiana, along with some of its suppliers and support service providers, which combined are expected to affect about 1,400 people.The phased closure of Huntington Ingall’s Avondale shipyard will continue to affect several thousand workers through 2013.“Louisiana’s re-employment efforts jumped seven places last year in a ranking of the states, and this grant will help continue that improvement,” Eysink said.
In Louisiana, the maximum unemployment benefit is $247 a week. REA grants have been shown to reduce the number of weeks claimants draw unemployment insurance benefits by hastening their return to work.
Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: employment, grants, Louisiana, return to work, workforceHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
The Louisiana Department of Insurance has approved changes to the property insurance rate levels for personal lines policies written by Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The approved rate changes are applicable to all new business and renewal policies effective June 1, 2012.
The approved revisions to the rates result in an overall increase of 10.8 percent for the FAIR Plan and 7.2 percent for the Coastal Plan policies.
The increase on a statewide basis is 10.5 percent.
An outline of the the rate level change by line of business and territory is available on the Louisiana Citizens website, http://www.lacitizens.com/RateLevelChanges.aspx.
The new rates were available for quoting April 2, 2012.
All policies effective on or after June 1, 2012 will be priced using the new rates, irrespective of when the quote was generated.
Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Personal Lines, RatesHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk
Louisiana has agreed to share information with a federal network designed to cut down on insurance fraud.
The Advocate reported that the agreement is between the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Louisiana Department of Insurance.
State Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says the problem of fraudulent claims is about the same in all 50 states. Insurance industry studies have suggested that 10 percent or more of property-casualty claims are fraudulent
View the Original article
About 35 current and former City of Ruston, La., firefighters are resting a little easier after the Board of Aldermen finally approved the transfer of funds for a settlement of a lawsuit filed in 2001.
The Ruston Daily Leader reports the board on April 2 unanimously approved the transfer of $395,000 from the city’s general budget to the Ruston Fire Department’s budget to cover the settlement.
Mayor Dan Hollingsworth said he was glad to see a solution finally reached.
View the Original article
The Sorrento Town Council in Louisiana has voted 3-0 to pay claims by residents whose homes were flooded and soiled by backups from the town’s troubled sewer system.
The Advocate reports the vote on April 4 gave Mayor Pro Tem Randy Anny authority to issue nearly $30,000 in checks in Mayor Wilson Longanecker Jr.’s absence.
Councilmen John Wright, Milton
View the Original article
Officials with the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission say collisions at rail crossings in Louisiana fell in 2011from 106 in 2010 to 96 last year.
The Louisiana Operation Lifesaver program also reported that deaths from such incidents fell from 13 to nine. Officials said these improvements were in line with national trends.
The Federal Railroad Administration reports that nationally incidents at public and private crossings fell from 9,461 in 1981 to 1,956 in 2011.
According to statistics released by the Louisiana Operation Lifesaver program, 191 highway rail crashes were reported in northeastern Louisiana between 2007 and 2011. Ouachita Parish led them with 95.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Texas / South Central NewsTopics: Cargo, collisions, Louisiana, Marine (Inland and Ocean), railroad accident, Safety & Loss Control, Transportation, Cargo, Marine (Inland and Ocean)Have a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk