BATON ROUGE, La. -- A group of Louisiana homeowners sued 16 insurance
companies Thursday, asking a state district court to rule that neglect
and wind damage caused the flood that inundated thousands of homes in
Orleans and Jefferson parishes.
Breaches in the levees which ring the city allowed the water in, so the
floods were not caused by an "act of God," contends the
lawsuit filed Thursday in 19th Judicial District Court.
This suit has a different argument than one filed Thursday by the state
of Mississippi. The Mississippi lawsuit contends that standard insurance
polices led homeowners to believe they were covered for all hurricane
damage, including that from high water.
The Louisiana lawsuit, filed by 14 couples, one individual homeowner and
one business, says the city might not have flooded had levees and
floodwalls remained intact. That means the flood doesn't meet the
"rising water" or "act of God" exclusions common to
insurance policies, it contends.
Because homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods, the federal
government has a flood insurance program. Unless a house is considered
above flood level, banks won't approve mortgages on houses in New
Orleans without that insurance.
However, the suit contends, because of New Orleans' extensive levee and
flood protection system, about 60 percent of its residents don't have
flood insurance.
It asks to be made a class action lawsuit. Current estimates say up to
160,000 homes in the area may be unusable, and the exact number of
potential plaintiffs are unknown, the lawsuit says.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Find a Car