First Louisiana Trial on Katrina Damages

Rebecca Castell

Contributor

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The first trial on Hurricane Katrina damages started in Louisiana on Monday. The case, involving the Tomlinson's and their property insurer, Allstate, is to determine whether Allstate conducted itself in bad faith while adjusting the Tomlinson's claims for hurricane related damage to their home. The Tomlinson's accuse Allstate of holding up the adjusting process by wating 3 months to begin adjusting and then ignoring much of the damage to the property and then refusing to pay out until after a lawsuit was filed.

This case is likely to yield a different result than the previously tried Mississippi cases which rendered large verdicts to insureds because Louisiana law caps punitive damages and limits damages available for bad faith claims.