New Hope for Katrina Insurance Victims
Hurricane Katrina victims may have reason to hope for a Happy New Year.
A federal judge's ruling in a Katrina insurance dispute on the Mississippi Gulf Coast could bode well for insurers in the “wind vs. wave” legal battles over who pays for storm damages.
U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. ruled Thursday that State Farm Fire Insurance Co. owes a Biloxi couple $223,292 for their Katrina-demolished home and its contents, ruling that even though their policy excluded flood damage, the company did not prove during trial that the entire loss was caused by flood.
Senter then allowed a jury to deliberate punitive damages. Their verdict: $2.5 million.
The verdict could benefit hundreds of other homeowners challenging insurers for refusing to cover billions of dollars in storm damage.