[StBernard] Landrieu Statement on 5th Circuit Insurance Ruling

[Westley Annis]

Sen. Landrieu Statement on
5th Circuit Insurance Ruling

 

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today released a
statement regarding yesterday's Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals
decision against home and business owners' insurance claims stemming from
Hurricane Katrina and the levee breaks that followed.

Sen. Landrieu said:

"I strongly disagree with the decision reached by the United States Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday to dismiss the claims of Louisiana
residents and businesses regarding insurance coverage that they have paid
significant premiums on throughout their lives.  

"The failures of the levees were directly the result of engineering failures
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Simply put, the damage caused by these
failures was a manmade disaster, and an exclusion commonly interpreted as
one for natural disasters is now being used by the insurers to sidestep
their responsibility to home and business owners.  

"The insurance companies and their lawyers certainly know how to prepare
policies that distinguish between natural and manmade disasters.  In fact,
the Fifth Circuit acknowledged this ability more than 30 years ago, and
again yesterday.  Nonetheless, it has now totally ignored its own precedent,
siding with manipulative insurers against the Louisianians who pay them to
take the risk.

 "The resulting decision from three Texas judges is gravely flawed.  It
contradicts not only Louisiana's legislative intent, but also the views of
many Louisiana jurists who have considered the issue.  It is yet another
serious setback to the people of Louisiana who have suffered because of the
greatest manmade disaster in our nation's history.   

"This was one of the most far-reaching decisions affecting Louisiana
citizens and involving Louisiana issues ever handed down by a federal court.
I encourage the Fifth Circuit to reconsider its decision and defer the issue
to the proper court to decide it -- the Louisiana Supreme Court."

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