One Lesson of Hurricane Katrina - Insurance Companies Need to be Pushed

Rob Curtiss

Contributor

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Two years have now passed since Hurricane Katrina struck. As a nation, our attention has moved on to other catastrophes such as the Minneapolis Bridge collapse and the Utah mine disaster.

Yet many people who lost their homes or other property in the hurricane have been unable to move on because their insurance companies have refused to pay their legitimate claims. Even Senator Trent Lott, the conservative Mississippi Republican, has been forced to sue his insurance company along with hundreds of other area homeowners.

This sad state of affairs confirms what I've learned in twenty years of practice. That is that insurance companies delay responding to claims unless they are pushed and pushed hard by a lawyer who knows what he or she is doing. Hopefully, Katrina victims will ultimately recover fair settlements from their companies who deserted them in their hour of need. For more information go to the following links:

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2007/01/insurance-industry-on-trial-over.asp

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070830/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_katrina_28