Insurers being sued over Katrina

Five US insurance companies are being accused of trying to trick Hurricane Katrina survivors out of millions of dollars in damage payouts.

The claim has been made by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood who has launched legal proceedings.

He said representatives for the firms had been asking people to sign forms saying they sustained flood damage, which is not covered by their policies.

All five companies have strongly denied the accusations.

"I want the insurance companies to pay what they actually owe the people of Mississippi," he said, adding that he thought their representatives were "unconscionable".

Strong denials

The five companies being sued by Mr Hood are Nationwide Mutual Insurance, Mississippi Farm Bureau Insurance, State Farm Fire and Casualty, Allstate Property and Casualty, and United Services Automobile Association.

Mr Hood said that the firms are demanding policyholders sign the forms in order to gain an immediate cheque to cover living expenses.

"The allegations made by the Mississippi Attorney General are unfounded," said Nationwide Mutual Insurance.

"Our company is absolutely not asking policyholders to acknowledge damage is flood related in order to receive a cheque for living expenses."


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/4251394.stm

Published: 2005/09/16 07:04:59 GMT

© BBC MMVII

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Homeowner Feels Revictimized By Insurers

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss., Aug. 22, 2007
(CBS) When Hurricane Katrina ripped through Ocean Springs, Miss., it tore Rodney Freeman's home and heart apart.

"We walked in, everything was rearranged. Black mud, crabs in the house. You know when you see crabs in the house something's wrong," he said tells CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.

Still, Freeman figured he was one of the lucky ones. After all, he had double-barreled protection; $201,000 from Nationwide Mutual against wind damage and $115,000 in flood from Empire Fire and Marine. It was more than twice the replacement cost of his three-bedroom house and its contents.

But now, two years after Katrina, Freeman's house is still unfixed.

"Everybody don't pay homeowners insurance," Freeman says. "Some people can't have it, you know, but they need it. And you get it and it ain't worth nothing. Not nothing. It ain't worth nothing."

A single father raising a teenage son, Freeman has worked at the local post office for 21 years, faithfully paying his premiums.

Then Katrina hit.

---

First, adjusters for the flood insurer offered $4,003.12 to fix the kitchen. That was less than half of the $11,319.55 a local contractor estimated it would cost.

After 14 months of endless pleading, Freeman had what he felt were take-it-or-leave-it offers totaling $63,438.67 from both insurers. Again, it was less than half of what was needed to fix his home. He took it to attorney Danielle Brewer.

"He has lost money because they didn't pay him timely; because he was left with no choice but to hire an attorney to help," Brewer said.

But after legal fees and two years of living expenses, the money Brewer pried out of the insurers, Freeman says, was still not enough.

"It takes a Hurricane Katrina for everyone to discover that they really don't have protection they've paid for."

In statements, Nationwide says it is doing "all it can to resolve outstanding Katrina claims as quickly as possible," while Empire said it "it appropriately adjusted and paid Mr. Freeman's claim for flood loss."

The Mississippi Insurance Department says 98 percent of claims have been settled. But nobody is saying just how many of those folks are like Freeman, at a loss to explain the real cost of $316,000 in "coverage."

"That wasn't enough money. So I need the federal government to help me?" he asks. "Ain't that something."

© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


Original article published here.


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Clarion-Ledger Poll On Big Insurance Revictimizing Katrina Survivors

Read the Clarion Ledger Opinion: Whistleblower: Judge victimizing Katrina victims?

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Whistleblower: Judge victimizing Katrina victims?

U.S. District Judge William Acker's behavior regarding the victims of Hurricane Katrina is most curious, and disturbing.

Acker ruled in June that Coast attorney Dickie Scruggs "willfully violated" a Dec. 8 preliminary injunction that required him to deliver "all documents" about State Farm Insurance Co. that whistleblowers Cori and Kerri Rigsby secretly copied after Katrina.

Last month, Acker named two special prosecutors in the case after U.S. Attorney Alice Martin declined to prosecute Scruggs, to whom the whistleblowers had given the documents that allegedly proved State Farm wrongly denied claims. Scruggs, who is suing State Farm, had turned the documents over to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood.

Acker's insistence in this case seems to defy at least the spirit of federal whistleblower laws and even common sense.

It's perfectly reasonable for Scruggs to have obtained this material, as many south Mississippians have turned to Scruggs for help after their claims were denied or low-balled, including even U.S. Sen. Trent Lott.

Who's doing wrong here? The victims?

If the sisters saw documents that would indicate unfairness or illegality in an insurance company's dealings with victims, it would seem they have a moral obligation to report it to someone.

That's why federal and state whistleblower laws were written, to protect those taking ethical action from retaliation.

To be blunt, even heeding the letter of the law in regard to "theft" of documents, if the papers showed willful disregard for the misery of Katrina victims, would any jury convict them for trying to stop it?

Sometimes, there's justice, and sometimes there's the law. It would appear Acker is pursuing the law at the expense of justice, and the victims of Katrina.

Original Clarion Ledger Opinion published on August 23, 2007.

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Katrina propels insurance factor

Costs skyrocketed after storm
Posted on Sun, Aug. 19, 2007
By ANITA LEE
calee@sunherald.com

Property insurance, once a routine purchase, plays a bigger role in life decisions than it did before Hurricane Katrina.

Insurance had become a factor in what price people pay for houses, and where they live or do business. That's because insurance costs have skyrocketed and policies for hurricane damage are available near the waterfront only through the state wind pool, insurer of last resort for South Mississippi.

By design, wind-pool prices are higher than the private market because of the risk and because the state wants to encourage a private insurance market.

Katrina has focused Mississippi's attention, and to some extent the nation's, on insuring property against natural disasters. The media has followed heated litigation between insurance companies and policyholders. At one time, more than 1,000 lawsuits were pending in U.S. District Court in Gulfport, but that number has been whittled to less than 600.

Oxford attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, of tobacco litigation fame, and his Scruggs Katrina Group team have taken on the most policyholder cases and settled claims with several insurance companies. Insurance companies stand by their claims-adjusting processes, and the courts have upheld their contention that they are not responsible for damage from tidal surge covered under the National Flood Insurance Program.

Debate continues over whether insurance companies also attributed wind damage to flooding to minimize their losses.

Insurance Commissioner George Dale, who has held office for almost 32 years, blamed his recent re-election defeat on Katrina and Scruggs, who pulled out his checkbook to campaign against the commissioner. Many policyholders on the Coast and Dale's opponents claim he has grown too friendly with the industry.

Several bills are pending in Congress aimed at changing the way insurance is regulated and sold. A multiple perils bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor would add wind coverage to the NFIP. Sen. Trent Lott is pushing to repeal the industry's exemption from anti-trust laws. Both sued their insurance company, State Farm, for refusing to cover their losses, but the cases have been settled.

Insurance rates and availability also will continue to make headlines. State legislators and wind-pool officials have just announced some relief. Those who build to the standards set by the Institute for Business & Home Safety, an organization sponsored by the insurance industry, can get a break on the price.

"The credits for fortified construction is a win- win situation," said wind-pool board member and insurance agent David Treutel. "The homeowner spends a little more on the front end, but recovers the extra construction cost over the years through premium credits. The wind pool can charge less for coverage since the building is less likely to suffer damage in a storm. It is a long-term solution for the insurance costs in coastal areas."

Also, consumers willing to assume more risk can lower their monthly premiums by agreeing to pay higher deductibles if their property is damaged by a hurricane.

The wind-pool board recently created new optional deductibles of 5 percent, 10 percent, 15 percent, and 20 percent. Some private companies are offering higher deductibles, too. Independent insurance agents can help consumers who want to comparison shop.

Wind-pool board member and insurance broker Bobby Portwood said, "A policyholder needs to carefully weigh how much deductible he can take on, but it is one more personal option that will soon be available."

Homeowner property insurance costs
Below is an example of coverage costs for a $166,000 home. Estimates are averages.

Dwelling valued at $166,000 (rates vary according to consumer credit rating, fire protection district and home construction)

Homeowners insurance, excluding wind and earthquake: Averages $500 to $700 a year

Wind and hail, Mississippi wind pool (rates vary according to home construction, location north or south of Interstate)2 percent named-storm deductible and $1,000 deductible on other windstorm damage.

First year premium: $2,168 south of I-10; $1,891 north of I-10 (includes $30 inspection fee for first year.)

Flood with $500 deductible $264 a year.

-MATTINA INSURANCE AGENCY INC.

---

© 2007 Sun Herald. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.sunherald.com
Original Sun Herald article published August 19, 2007.

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George Dale Should Thank Dickie Scruggs

by Ana Maria

The last two weeks have produced a great deal of hand wringing, teeth gnashing, and finger pointing regarding what caused Mississippi’s 32-year veteran insurance commissioner to loose his job. When Mississippi Democrats voted in the primary on August 7th, they fired George Dale and hired Gary Anderson in his place. Anderson has that fire in the belly to protect homeowners and business owners from Big Insurance.

Neither Dale nor some of his ardent supporters—many of whom are Republican and insurance big wigs—seem capable of believing that Dale could have lost his job all on his own and that Mississippi voters actually elected another man—an African American one at that. Perhaps all of this together stings Dale’s Old South blood that may be coursing through his veins.

The simple fact is that George Dale a sore loser. He gambled with his career, and he lost. His whining and crying? A bunch of sour grapes. Dale turned a blind eye to the fact that it was he who rolled out the red carpet that permitted insurance companies to run amok over Mississippi families and business owners. Under George Dale’s leadership, Mississippi has the third highest home owner’s insurance rates in the country. Not exactly something on which to proudly campaign.

In the aftermath of Katrina, Dale’s failure as an insurance commissioner is what forced many Mississippians to turn to attorneys to fight BIG INSURANCE. Dale forced Mississippians to go to court because he was too busy ignoring his responsibilities. On August 7th, Mississippi Democrats demonstrated what they thought of Dale’s performance and fired him. Good bye, George.

“My mistake after Katrina was saying . . . some claims are not going to be paid because of water damage.”

No, George, your mistake was not doing your job. Your mistake was not seeing to it that the insurance companies quickly and faithfully paid out on their wind insurance policies as they should have. I see why you campaigned for George W. Bush in 2004. The two of you have the same aversion for taking responsibility for what is rightfully yours and yours alone.

Has George Dale blamed himself? No. Following his electoral defeat, George Dale told the Biloxi Sun-Herald, “Two things that were major factors ... were Katrina and Dickie Scruggs. That's pretty much what it was.”

Huh? George Dale and his supporters are blaming trial lawyers in general and Dickie Scruggs in particular for his own electoral demise? And blaming Katrina, too? Well, if that don’t beat all.

How Katrina Drowned Dale’s Re-election
Katrina showed the world that the Dale wasn’t doing his job. Dale deliberately turned his back on the very people who needed him the most and for whom he could have and should have used the power of his elected office to help in their hour of greatest need. When Dale abandoned his responsibilities, others stepped up to the plate to protect families and business owners from the ravages of Big Insurance.

That “someone” was a group of “someones”, and they are called lawyers—trial lawyers. Thank GAWD for them. They are our hired guns and when we need one, we want the best of them. One of my very dearest friends is the former head of the trial lawyers association in California’s Silicon Valley whom I admire tremendously for his commitment to justice both inside and out of the courtroom. Like plenty of trial lawyers, Mohinder Mann is a great community leader who brings peace and justice into the situations with which he becomes involved.

When insurance companies began ripping off policyholders and George Dale snuggled ever so tightly to his corporate insurance friends, plenty of heroic trial lawyers stepped up to the plate—Scruggs Katrina Group,The Merlin Group, Ballducci, Mississippians . . . These men and women have helped protect Katrina’s families and businesses from being battered over the head and beaten up by Big Insurance’s slick corporate attorneys.

Had George Dale done his job, these law suits would have been unnecessary. The Scurggs Katrina Group would not have formed. Dickie Scruggs would not have had clients for whom to file lawsuits. If George Dale had done his job, he would have been the one to file a racketeering lawsuit against State Farm rather than leaving it up to a private citizen who cares deeply about his fellow Mississippians to file it.

Mississippians for Fair Elections
George Dale is upset that Dickie Scruggs put up $250,000 of his own money into a political action committee that aired a commercial that told the truth about how Dale has allowed the insurance industry to deny claims all over the state. At the same time, Dale had approved a 30% increase in insurance premiums. What’s the problem?

Well, from Dale’s perspective, speaking the truth is problematic because, well, he’s used to not telling the truth. Information is critical to an informed electorate. And informed electorate is critical to fair elections. Dickie Scruggs was merely exercising his right as an American to assist his fellow Mississippians in being more informed of their lives under George Dale.

This reminds me of the Bush Administration being angry at the leak rather than embarrassed that it betrayed our trust to spoil American blood in a war that was wholly unnecessary. No wonder Dale campaigned for Bush in 2004. They had some kind of “shirk responsibility” bond thing going on.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Angriest . . .
Rather than pointing a finger at Dickie Scruggs, George Dale should be thanking heaven that the Dickie Scruggs of the world exist to protect consumers from corporate thievery when the government officials who are supposed to protect us walk away from their responsibilities. Sure, the involvement of Dickie Scruggs and other attorneys with Katrina lawsuits is a clear indicator that Dale failed miserably as a commissioner. But Dale’s failure is his own—not those who are helping to clean up his mess.

Dickie Scruggs has come to symbolize all of the good that trial lawyers do for the little guys and all of the failure George Dale has brought into his own life by not doing his job. A real shame, isn’t it?

That, my friends, is the holy all of it. George Dale did not do his job, which was to regulate Big Insurance and how they treated Mississippi’s families and businesses. He did not demand that these insurance companies live up to their word, pay out on their wind claims, and treat South Mississippians with the respect that they deserved.

If Dale had done his job, Gary Anderson would not have had a reason to run for insurance commissioner to protect Mississippi households and business owners. We’d have already been in good hands. The commissioner would have already proven himself to be like a good neighbor.

If Dale had done his job, the Dickie Scruggs of the world would not have had to step in and do it for him. George Dale should thank Dickie Scruggs for helping to bring justice and hope to the families that he had betrayed.

George Dale fails to look at himself in the mirror much less in the eye. On his own, George Dale lost his job, and he has no one to blame but himself. No wonder he's angry.




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Gulf Coast clergy, residents decry Barbour's grant process

By SHELIA BYRD
Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Miss. --Some 200 Gulf Coast residents held a rally at the state Capitol on Tuesday to criticize the governor's Homeowners Assistance Grant Program, saying it had failed to help renters and low- to moderate-income people get back into their homes.
Pastor Anthony Thompson, of Gulfport, said the group wanted to send the message to Gov. Haley Barbour that the grant process was moving too slow and excluding too many people.

"We've asked the governor to meet with us. We sent a letter. He has not responded," Thompson said.

The rally was sponsored by the Amos Network, a coalition of congregations, associations and individuals working to negotiate government and private sector agreements on the post-Hurricane Katrina coast.

The group stood in sweltering heat, holding signs that read: "Affordable housing for all" and "We are not invisible." They sang songs as they marched from Christ Temple Church of Christ Holiness to the nearby Capitol in downtown Jackson.

"People are still living in tents after two years. Most of the people here don't have no place to go. People on the beach got grants," said Pastor J.L. Henry, of Moss Point, referring to the tony homes that are being rebuilt along U.S. 90.

Barbour's grant program is a two-phase project designed to assist residents as they rebuild or renovate property destroyed by Katrina in 2005.

The program is overseen by the Mississippi Development Authority, but is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant funds.

The first phase of the program provides up to $150,000 each to homeowners who lived outside the federal flood plain but lost their houses to Katrina's storm surge after the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005.

The second phase, to cover low-income and working poor homeowners, provides up to $100,000 for people who had storm surge damage to their primary residence regardless of whether they were insured or whether the property was in a flood zone.

Thompson said homeowners who had wind damage do not qualify for the program, and an income cap in the second phase eliminates a large number of renters and working poor.

The group wants Barbour to revamp the second phase of the program to include all homeowners who had wind, water and surge damage. They're also asking for a financial commitment and timetable to restore affordable housing on the coast.

Barbour spokesman Pete Smith issued a statement that said the grant program was approved by federal agencies and is subject to review and audits.

"We continue to believe that the most comprehensive recovery programs ever attempted are working to the benefit of the vast majority of coast residents and communities whose lives were disrupted by Hurricane Katrina," Smith said in the statement.

Marianne Hill, senior economist of the Institutions of Higher Learning, said housing has stalled on the Gulf Coast. She said the number of people employed in construction in June 2007 was no greater than June 2006.

She said people are concerned about the higher insurance costs, new building code requirements and permits.

"We haven't seen the takeoff in residential construction we're waiting for," Hill said.

According to the MDA Web site, grants have been paid to 13,556 of the 15,575 homeowners who were eligible for the program. For the second phase, 2,169 of 7,424 applications had been approved, with 575 grants paid.

Jackie Washington, 53, a Biloxi homeowner, said she's been waiting for more than a year to hear whether she'll receive any funding.

Washington said she didn't qualify for the first phase, but submitted an application for the second phase.

"They don't tell you any information," she said. "They say it's still being processed."

________

The Biloxi Sun Herald originally posted this article on August 21, 2007.

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Bush’s FEMA Again Lifting Wrong Finger for Katrina’s Families

by Ana Maria

With Katrina’s 2nd anniversary a week away and eyes glued to following Hurricane Dean’s path, evidence of post-Katrina stress abounds. From short tempers and increased alcohol and drug usage to low expectations that life can ever return to even the worst of pre-Katrina days to people whispering about various friends and family members in good health but who all of a sudden die without warning. In hushed tones, they share with me their various conclusions on the cause of death.

• Katrina took away their will to live.
• The stress of post-Katrina survival got to them.
• When the insurance companies failed to own up to their financial responsibilities to pay on wind policies, it killed ‘em—they checked out.

Mental illness is double the pre-storm levels, rising numbers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and there is a surge in adults who say they're thinking of suicide. . . .

The big surprise: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which typically goes away in a year for most disaster survivors, has increased: 21% have the symptoms vs. 16% in 2006. Common symptoms include the inability to stop thinking about the hurricane, nightmares and emotional numbness.

Katrina victims struggle mentally
USA Today
8.16.07

The nation’s worst natural disaster is playing havoc with our coping mechanisms, and Bush’s FEMA is playing havoc with how they interpret the rules that should afford some much needed funding for mental health services in the Katrina-ravaged area.

An Associated Press story reported “FEMA has refused to assist the institutions that those people were referred to and it has not explained why."

"A government survey released [August 15, 2007] to USA TODAY shows no improvement in mental health from a year ago."

Katrina victims struggle mentally
USA Today
8.16.07

Maybe that’s because FEMA can’t explain the cruel and compassionless policies flowing out of a “you’re on your own” Bush White House philosophy. What is Bush to do? Admit that he only believes in spending taxpayer money on bloated contracts with his friends? Fat chance. Instead, he and his ilk have surrounded themselves with similar conscious-free types whose mission seems to be to spend the least amount as possible when it comes to helping Americans.

FEMA ran its Project Recovery Program as a referral service only, and chose not to provide funding for mental health professionals to counsel Americans temporarily going through this horrific disaster. Not exactly helpful, particularly when Katrina displaced the area’s mental health professionals—just as it has so many others in the hurricane’s aftermath.

This is crazy—then again, so much that the Bush Administration has done is pure madness. Yes, pure madness. FEMA does fund short-term crisis counseling after disasters. That’s right. FEMA has done so for 25 years.

“The Crisis Counseling Program [has] been supported in the past twenty-five years by the Federal government, provides for short-term interventions with individuals and groups experiencing psychological sequelae from Presidentially-declared disasters.”

Well, if that don’t beat all. Here’s an excerpt from a U.S. Government agency website— Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides supplemental funding to States for short-term crisis counseling projects to assist survivors/victims of Presidentially declared major disasters. FEMA supplements, but does not supplant, mental health services traditionally provided by State and local mental health agencies. The Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program (commonly referred to as the Crisis Counseling Program) was first authorized by the U.S. Congress under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-288) and later modified by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-707). FEMA is responsible for administering the disaster assistance programs of the Stafford Act, including Federal assistance for crisis.

A major disaster, as defined by the Stafford Act, is any natural catastrophe, or regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, which in the determination of the President causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance to supplement efforts and available resources of States, local government, and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused by the disaster.

So there we have it. FEMA pays for mental health care crisis counseling, but the Bush Administration is apparently playing politics with the tax dollars that could be and should be helping Katrina’s Americans cope with the myriad of Katrina-related mental health problems.

How cruel. How categorically cruel for the Bush Administration to deny access to federal funding when the money can be used for such a critical service for its people. AND this isn’t exactly breaking new ground as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ website explains that disaster crisis counseling programs are part and parcel of what it provides.

Disaster Crisis Counseling Programs are a departure from traditional mental health practice in many ways. The program is designed to address incident specific stress reactions, rather than ongoing or developmental mental health needs (CMHS, 1994). Programs must be structured and implemented according to Federally established guidelines and for a specific period. Emphasis is on serving individuals, families, and groups of people - all of whom share a devastating event that most likely changed the face of their entire community.

Yet, Bush’s FEMA denies funding for this critical service for Katrina’s Americans. This is yet another example of the Bush Administration’s cruel and compassionless core values. Bush talks compassion and walks cruelty. And the impact of Bush’s FEMA policy is evidenced everywhere.

Whether we are adults or children. Katrina has negatively impacted our collective mental health. In Trauma shapes Katrina's kids, USA Today wrote

New Orleans pediatrician Corey Hebert dreads the rainy weeks when he knows he'll face about 20 sobbing, screaming children in full-blown panic attacks.

"They can't be calmed because they're terrified another hurricane is coming," he says. Parents bring them in because there are no therapists around.

In Mississippi, FEMA is taking away $4.5 million of federal dollars that could be used for counseling any aged survivor trying to cope with what many call post-Katrina syndrome. Again, the U.S. government agency website stated

The Crisis Counseling Program is unique in comparison to the mix of Federal programs made available through a Presidential disaster declaration. It is the one program for which virtually anyone qualifies and where the person affected by disaster does not have to recall numbers, estimate damages, or otherwise justify need. The program provides primary assistance in dealing with the emotional sequelae to disaster.

The only thing we’ll have to watch out for is the Bush Administration demanding that the counseling be laced with religious overtones or allowing the federal dollars to go to unqualified professionals, particularly those who support Bush’s desire to mix his religious beliefs with our very secular government. He’ll have us praying his way.

Believe me, down here everyone is praying. The old saying “pray to God and row to shore” has us asking for help with the rowing part, not the praying part.

Good Lord! If folks want religion and government intertwined, they can move to Iran or Saudi Arabia where government and religion are laced together. Don’t care for that? How’s about Afghanistan where the pathetic fools called the Taliban foist their own ignorant macho cruelty upon its prey all under the veil of “religion.” Don’t like the Middle Eastern example? How’s about reviewing recent history in Ireland with two factions of Christianity did its gut level best to shove its own views on the other in rather violent fashion. A rather bloody mess came about, to say the least.

Religion and government don’t mix well. That’s the reason the founders of our nation placed Freedom OF Religion as part of our Constitution’s First Amendment. Freedom of . . . and its implied Freedom FROM. Remember, the founders were often those who had fled Britain’s King George’s religious tyranny. Talk about history repeating itself!

The point here is two-fold. First, our own federal government already has long established post-disaster crisis counseling programs specifically for Katrina-type scenarios. Secondly, we need to be aware of Bush’s propensity to act in a way that laces religion with government—a deadly combination and fundamentally anti-American.

What is beautifully American, however, is the belief that we can make life better for ourselves, our families, our communities, and for others. As Americans, we hold the belief that a new day brings new possibilities to alleviate for ourselves and the next generation the challenges we face today.

Bush and his White House are fundamentally different human beings than the people I run across throughout the Mississippi Gulf Coast and throughout the Katrina-ravaged region who are needlessly suffering at the Administration’s hands. With the sunny optimistic outlook that pegs us as true blue Americans, folks in Katrina Land are trying to fix the problem at hand that Bush’s FEMA has created through failing to offer to our people the mental health services needed.

However, in typical American fashion, folks around here are trying to ensure that FEMA does not force other Americans to suffer needlessly as it has forced Katrina’s survivors to suffer. Ed LeGrand, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, “said he was concerned FEMA's rigid interpretation would affect future disaster recovery programs.”

"I did want to set the stage where if there was a significant disaster elsewhere then maybe the feds would be a little more liberal in how they allow the states use those (mental health) funds in the future."

Throughout the Katrina ravaged Gulf Coast region, folks here fight with the Bush's FEMA and Bush's corporate insurance supporters to get all of them to do right. As they fight, these hard-working Americans who’ve been through hell and back do so not only for themselves and their communities, but also to prevent another town, another family from having to experience this horrific, and unnecessary, hardship.

Lifting a finger to help
While the Bush Administration continues to lift the wrong finger to Katrina’s families, businesses, and communities, the rest of America—that would be you and me—can lift a real finger to provide real help. We can help this situation through letting our fingers do the walking and our mouths do a bit of talking. Yes ma’am and yes sir! You know what that means. It’s political hell raising time! Wooohooo!

FEMA’s Director needs our wise counsel to fund professional counselors in the same way the agency has done after other disasters over the last 25 years. So, let’s give him a piece of our mind and gain a peace of mind for ourselves knowing that today, we helped to make a difference in the Katrina recovery.

Today's political hell raising acivity involves one phone call to FEMA Director Paulison to tell him that FEMA must fund mental health services for the entire Katrina-ravaged region from New Orleans and its surrounding areas across the Mississippi Gulf Coast region and on over to Bayou LeBatre, Alabama.

Lifting our fingers this way can help to outweigh the only finger Bush and his gang seem to lift with any regularity to Americans whether in the Katrina-ravaged region or not. This kind of deliberate, targeted political hell raising is one way to simultaneously lift our own finger to the Bush Administration while helping to create the momentum needed to get the funding we need for mental health services here in Katrina Land. We do this, and things will shift positively for us. On that, I have total faith.

Related articles
Trauma shapes Katrina's kids USA Today 8.16.07
Katrina victims struggle mentally USA Today 8.16.07

Gulf Coast kids of every class affected by Katrina USA Today 8.16.07

Katrina rips up the few roots foster kids had USA Today 8.16.07

Portrait of a Troubled Teen Sun Herald 8.11.07

FEMA takes back $4.5M Mspi wanted for mental health facilities Sun Herald 8.11.07


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Consumer Advocates Help Defeat Allstate's Efforts to Hide its Post-Katrina Pay-Out Procedures

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Allstate Insurance Company will not be allowed to hide trial exhibits that include the company's pay-out procedures for Hurricane Katrina claims thanks, in part, to efforts by Public Justice, a national public interest law firm headquartered in Washington DC, and the California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR).

On August 16, United States District Judge Sarah Vance in New Orleans refused to seal the trial exhibits in Weiss v. Allstate, the case of a New Orleans couple who earlier this year won a $2.8 million verdict against Allstate for illegally refusing a hurricane- related claim. In so ruling, the Court noted that "[p]ublic access serves to enhance the transparency and trustworthiness of the judicial process, to curb judicial abuses, and to allow the public to understand the judicial system better."

The documents are available for download at:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/insurance/AllstateKatrina/.

"We are thrilled that the Court has rejected Allstate's request to seal these exhibits," said Public Justice Attorney Michael Lucas, lead counsel for FTCR. "This ruling vindicates the public's right to know and it prevents Allstate from hiding its behavior in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."

Several months after the jury verdict in Weiss, the insurance company had asked the court to either return or seal the trial exhibits, which include Allstate's manual for handling claims and an operational guide for subcontractors engaged to work on Katrina-related damage. Representing FTCR, Public Justice opposed Allstate's request on the ground that the trial exhibits provide insight into Allstate's decision-making process and that denying public access to them "would directly impede FCTR's mission of educating the public about insurance practices and abuses." The motion to seal was also opposed by plaintiffs' counsel in the case.

In refusing Allstate's request for secrecy, the Court specifically rejected Allstate's argument that public access to the trial exhibits would cause it prejudice in other litigation involving hurricane-Katrina claims, holding that "[w]hen, as here, the documents are in the possession of the court as trial exhibits, the case is even stronger for permitting other litigants to have access to them." The Court further ruled that Allstate had failed to identify any specific reason why disclosure of the materials "might be harmful to Allstate's competitive position."

"Allstate clearly did not want to disclose the internal proce-dures by which it handled the claims of Katrina survivors, but the public and policymakers have a right to know why and how insurance companies make decisions to pay or not to pay in the wake of disasters," said FTCR' Executive Director Doug Heller. "This ruling will prevent Allstate from using the court system as a cloak of secrecy."

Public Justice Staff Attorney Leslie Brueckner and cooperating counsel Brian D. Katz, Stephen J. Herman, Joseph E. Cain, and Soren E. Gisleson of Herman Herman Katz & Cotlar, LLP in New Orleans are also representing FTCR.

Read the court order and briefs for Weiss v. Allstate at
http://www.publicjustice.net/briefs_documents.htm.

SOURCE: Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights

Related sources:

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org

http://www.publicjustice.net

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“Run for Cover!” Republican Gov. Evacuation Plan for Gulf Coast Residents

by Ana Maria



With Hurricane Dean tearing through the Caribbean, Gulf Coast residents watch the weather reports praying that whatever Mother Nature does, she does elsewhere. We’re still a long way off from recovering from Hurricane Katrina, which demolished the area two years ago. Many of our families—mine, included—have put into place evacuation plans that we had never before felt a need to have BK, Before Katrina.

The Associated Press reported that Mississippi’s Republican Governor Haley Barbour stated

“people should think about where they will go if an evacuation is ordered and how they'll travel.”

Oh, so that’s it? What is this?! Barbour’s admission that he has no evacuation plan?

Maybe Barbour is taking a page out of Karl Rove’s scare-‘em-half-to-death political playbook. After all, it is an election year for the governor’s mansion here in Mississippi.

Instead of real, effective, and efficient homeland security, however, Barbour decided to squander public dollars on little more than election-year posturing. Mississippi’s Republican Governor sent out a pre-recorded message to

“some 70,000 land-based phone lines in the three southernmost Coast counties Saturday morning. The message reminded locals a hurricane was in the Caribbean, and now is the time to pay attention to weather reports and have a hurricane evacuation route in mind, as well as to load up on supplies.”

Like we don’t know that. We’ve been through a few hurricanes in our day, and believe me, we’re watching the weather closely.
Click here to listen to Barbour's call to Gulf Coast residents telling us "not to panic." [Call courtesy of John Leek.]

Rather than election year posturing using fear that Karl Rove tells Republicans to instill in voters, how’s about something more important and effective for the situation at hand. Like what, you ask? Well, you know, homeland security kinds of things. The real kind, that is.

What A Homeland Security Plan Could Include
If the governor were so inclined—and apparently Barbour is not, he could have set up emergency hurricane evacuation hot lines staffed with calm, cool, collected, and well-trained individuals from right here in South Mississippi, good folks who provide information fellow South Mississippians need to keep us safe during the stormy hurricane season. These hotlines could provide a much-needed service to the Gulf Coast’s residents and business owners.

In addition, staffing these hotlines with local people provides much-needed revenue into the coffers of Katrina’s families who could use the income. Nothing like a good paying job to help buoy a person out of feeling totally depressed or a family out of its financial crisis, both of which are major problems throughout the region. The only people getting wealthy off of recovery efforts seem to be those with close ties to the White House or to Barbour himself.

To help keep our families safe and secure, hotline operators could provide important critical pieces of information. For example, operators could provide a list of items (children’s birth certificates, social security cards, driver’s license, medicines, doctors’ names, etc.) that everyone should have with them regardless of whether they go to a local safe haven or evacuate outside of the area.

For those who are need a local safe haven for shelter, hotline operators could be armed with the following critical pieces of information.

The closest places we can go for safety complete with addresses and directions on how to get there. This would require that the governor’s homeland security people would have scoured the area to locate and negotiate the use of the facility for this extremely important emergency usage.

Phone numbers to call to obtain a ride to the nearby safe havens that our responsible government has secured. This would require more organizing and negotiating with folks on the ground as well as finding out an approximate number of people that would request this important evacuation assistance.

A list of things that should be brought to the safe havens: (i.e. bedding and the like). Depending on where folks are going to ride out a storm, different items would be required and prohibited. We will need to know which is which. Through his emergency management people, the governor should ensure that this kind of information is available to us.

Barbour’s administration could send out tape-recorded messages to the homes with phone service informing South Mississippians of these hot lines staffed with wonderful homegrown folks providing this much needed service.

There may be plenty of Mississippians who are in a similar position as Keisha, the young single mother with two children and no car with which to evacuate on her own. Katrina ruined Keisha’s car, and she has not been able to replace it.

When she was talking with Democratic Gubernatorial nominee John Eaves the other day, I heard her tell Eaves that FEMA gave her $3,000 for all of her belongings, those of her two young children, and her car. Goodness knows that even if she had forgone replacing any clothes, bedding, toys, or books for her children, $3,000 would not have purchased a safe and reliable vehicle for her and her children. My heart went out to her as she was talking with Eaves and WLOX-TV 13, an ABC affiliate located in Biloxi, Miss.

The governor’s evacuation plan would also need to address how to keep safe those who are too sick to move, the disabled, and the elderly. These Mississippians need safety, too.

It’s been two years since Katrina. Plenty of billions of dollars have made their way from Washington, DC, to Jackson, Miss. With Hurricane Dean blowing its way through the ocean waters, none of us need more hot air from some high-ranking Republican government official.

Where are Mississippi’s coastal evacuation plans? Surely someone somewhere got federal money to create them. So where are they?

Rather than describing a well-though out deliberate plan of action to protect the Gulf Coast and its residents, Barbour announced “No government is big enough to do everything for everybody.”

What a cop out. No one is asking our government to do everything for everybody. We do ask it to do some things for some people. And those “some people” includes regular families with regular lives. No matter how minimalist some one thinks that they want our government to be, when it comes to homeland security, we expect America’s public officials to act like we’re the number one nation on the planet.

Apparently, Barbour hasn’t figured out that homeland security requires more than screaming “Run for cover!”


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