Latest Louisiana Headlines

All the headlines from our Louisiana Topic Page, ordered by recency.

State Farm Dropping Auto Rates in Louisiana by 2.5%

Jun 5 2008 // State Farm insurance says it’s lowering auto coverage rates in Louisiana by an average of 2.5 percent at the end of June.The company says that represents an annual savings of $22.4 million to its customers. State...

La. Train Derailment Highlights Need for Safety Measures

Jun 3 2008 // More than 3,000 residents of Lafayette, La., were evacuated May 17, 2008, when a train derailed, spilling 10,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid. The Associated Press reported that the wreck spread a toxic cloud over...

Southwest La. Couples Lose Appeal in Valued Policy Law Case

Jun 2 2008 // A federal appeals court says people whose houses were destroyed by Hurricane Rita’s wind and floods cannot make insurance companies pay the full value of their policies.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a...

Louisiana Minimum Auto Insurance Bill Stalls in Senate

Jun 2 2008 // A bill that would raise mandatory minimum auto insurance levels stalled in a Senate committee when its chairman declined to break a tie vote.Louisiana law now requires car and truck owners to have “10-20-10”...

Ratings Recap: Safe, Philadelphia, Premier, Starr Indemnity, Hanover, LUBA, Premier, American Underwriters

Jun 2 2008 // A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to ‘A-‘ (Excellent) from ‘B++’ (Good) and issuer credit rating (ICR) to “a-” from “bbb” of Safe Insurance...

Louisiana Train Derailment Highlights Need for Railroad Safety Measures

Jun 2 2008 // More than 3,000 residents of Lafayette, La., were evacuated May 17, 2008, when a train derailed on a bridge, spilling 10,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid. The Associated Press reported that the wreck spread a toxic cloud...

Fraud fight up against budget shortfalls

Jun 2 2008 // Budget shortfalls have slowed the progress of fraud bills in many states around the U.S. while lawmakers feverishly work to find money to run their cash-strapped governments. Even so, reform bills clamping down on...

Louisiana House OKs Car Insurance Hike

Jun 2 2008 // Louisiana’s House of Representatives voted May 19 to raise the minimum level of required automobile insurance, an increase that would mean higher insurance costs for over 1 million motorists.Supporters of raising the...

Louisiana Train Derailment Highlights Need for Railroad Safety Measures

Jun 2 2008 // More than 3,000 residents of Lafayette, La., were evacuated May 17, 2008, when a train derailed on a bridge, spilling 10,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid. The Associated Press reported that the wreck spread a toxic cloud...

Credit Woes May Cause Turbulence in Catastrophe Markets

Jun 2 2008 // The credit crunch in the U.S. financial markets that boiled over due to the subprime mortgage meltdown may affect the ability of insurers and reinsurers that cover coastal areas to raise cash for claims payments should a...

La. Supreme Court upholds appeals court decision in wind versus water case

Jun 2 2008 // The Louisiana Supreme Court on May 21 upheld an appeals court’s decision regarding the state’s “valued policy law” (VPL) in a “wind versus water” case stemming from Hurricane Rita in...

Over Protests of Insurers, Businesses, La. Senate OKs Prosthetics Bill

May 29 2008 // Beginning next year, health insurance policies written in Louisiana would have to provide at least $50,000 worth of coverage for those who need artificial limbs, under legislation approved 26-7 by the state Senate.There...

Local Officials in Louisiana in Dark About Chemicals on Trains

May 27 2008 // Railway officials do not publicize the types of dangerous chemicals that pass every day through communities like Lafayette, La., citing safety concerns in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, world.But even first responders often...

Louisiana Supreme Court Agrees with Insurer in Wind v. Water Case

May 23 2008 // The Louisiana Supreme Court on May 21 upheld a previous appeals court’s decision upholding the state’s “valued policy law” (VPL).The plaintiffs in Mark Landry and Barbara Landry V. Louisiana...

Guns in Locked Cars at Workplace OK under Louisiana Senate Bill

May 23 2008 // Employees in Louisiana would have the right to keep a legally owned firearm locked in their car in a parking lot at their place of work, if the House goes along with a bill approved 28-4 in the state Senate.Senator Joe...

Louisiana House OKs Car Insurance Hike

May 21 2008 // Louisiana should raise the minimum level of required automobile insurance, the House of Representatives voted on May 19, an increase that would mean higher insurance costs for over 1 million motorists.Supporters of...

Train Derailment, Acid Leak Forces Louisiana Evacuation

May 19 2008 // Six cars of a freight train derailed Saturday, May 17, causing a hydrochloric acid leak that forced thousands of people to leave homes, businesses and a nursing home within one mile of the wreck.The spilled acid sent a...

October Trial Date Set for La. Legislator in Insurance Fraud Case

May 19 2008 // A federal judge set an Oct. 6 trial date for a Louisiana legislator charged with helping launder money for a woman accused of illegally selling insurance.Sen. Derrick Shepherd, who was indicted in April, did not appear in...

It Figures

May 19 2008 // $1.5 BillionThe Texas Windstorm Insurance Association is asking the Texas Department of Insurance for the go-ahead to purchase $1.5 billion in catastrophe reinsurance coverage over a retention of $600 million. TWIA is...

South Central Workers’ Comp Markets Show Signs of Improvement

May 19 2008 // Workers’ comp premium rates in Arkansas will continue on the declining path they have followed since the state passed workers’ compensation legislative reform in 1993, when a 12.8 percent rate decrease takes...