Insurance Companies Passing Katrina Costs onto American Taxpayers

Insurance Companies Passing Katrina Costs onto American Taxpayers

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.

http://hsc-democrats.house.gov/press/index.asp?ID=152&SubSection=1&Issue=0&DocumentType=0&PublishDate=1/18/2007