Insurers Passing Katrina Costs onto US Taxpayers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Insurance Companies Passing Katrina Costs onto American Taxpayers
Thompson to Investigate Improper Denial of Victims' Claims

January 12, 2007(Washington) - The United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi found that State Farm wrongfully denied claims of a victim of Hurricane Katrina. In Broussard v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., the judge ruled that State Farm failed to pay a family for the loss of their home.

Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security issued the following statement regarding the decision:

"This ruling is just the latest example of insurance companies engaging in a systematic effort to avoid paying Katrina victims for destruction caused by wind damage. Congress will not sit idly by while insurance companies - who are making record profits - continue to shift the costs of this national disaster to the American taxpayer.

Working with other Committees of jurisdiction, I will be investigating the assertions that insurance companies are wrongfully passing the costs of Katrina onto an already-burdened federal flood insurance program," Thompson added.

ENDS

© Scoop Media