Jackson Free Press

[Verbatim statement from Jim Hood] "State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, Farm Bureau, USAA, and Nationwide have caused many people on our Coast to wait a year and three months for a decision on the validity of the water exclusionary clause. Now, thanks to Judge Senter, a second federal judge has agreed with me and told the insurance companies that they were wrong in trying to delay the case in federal court. I have been in discussions with several of these companies with the aim of trying to resolve these issues without the expense and time of litigation and I am hopeful that other companies will come forward and do what is right toward the policy holders. I urge every policyholder and insurance agent in Mississippi to call or email their insurance company and tell them to work with us on a settlement to help our fellow Mississippians on our Coast!

Although I have continuously tried to resolve the issue peacefully by settlement, if the insurance companies want to fight, then we are ready to meet them before the Honorable Judge Denise Sweet Owens in the Chancery Court of Hinds County as soon as she will hear us. The State's claim urges the Court to prevent the insurance companies from refusing to pay for damage caused by storm surge. Storm surge is one of the four known meteorological events from a hurricane, yet the insurance companies failed to include the words "storm surge" in the exclusionary clauses in their policies. One universal law of contract interpretation/construction is that when the drafter of a contract names several specifically excluded perils, yet fails to name another, then the contract is construed against the drafter - the insurance companies.

Federal District Judge Senter has already ruled that the insurance companies' anti-concurrent cause provisions are void. These sneaky companies have tried to use these provisions to even deny wind
damage if any water touched the house. This just shows how overreaching the insurance industry has become in using their "fine print."

I think it is time for national insurance reform. The democratic takeover in Congress and the most catastropic event in history have created the first chance America has had in decades to review our national insurance policy. In a meeting with Congressman Gene Taylor, he advised me that Speaker Polosi had agreed with him and ordered that there be Congressional hearings on the issue. I know that Senator Trent Lott will also be working with the democratic leadership to investigate the insurance industry. I am confident that House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson will do all he can to look into the insurance companies' shifting the cost for damage to the federal flood program and FEMA for us taxpayers to pay the bill.

Unless the insurance companies come forward and help us forge a settlement quickly, I believe that this Spring the American people will see through a Congressional investigation the curtain peeled back on some of their antics our investigation has revealed on our Gulf Coast. As a result, I think that the American people will then demand national insurance reform and an American Insurance Bill of Rights.

One way or the other, I think that we shall soon see some movement by or against the insurance companies to help our families and business on our Coast."
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Previous Comments

ID

90471

Comment

And hell hath no fury like a senator pissed off. Lott looks like he changed parties! In reality, he's just serving the folks who elected him. And dealing with the insurance companies is a double edge sword. Piss them off and they simply quit writing policies. Try getting a mortgage or a bank loan to run a business when you can't get insurance. Big insurance companies never lose money, period. Change the rules, they change the whole flippin game. To them, it's black and white. I make money, I stay, I lose money, I leave. It's all in the actuary tables.

Author

Doc Rogers

Date

2006-12-27T23:16:28-06:00

ID

90472

Comment

Lott knows what it is like being one of us now. Too bad everyone being victimized by the insurance companies doesn't have Dickie Scruggs going to bat for them...

Author

Shreve MacKenzie

Date

2006-12-28T03:25:51-06:00