Lawyer: Insurer owes La. couple
They are suing Allstate to get more for Katrina loss. At issue: Was it from wind or flood?
NEW ORLEANS - Allstate Insurance Co. owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Louisiana couple who lost their home to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the couple's lawyer told an eight-member federal jury yesterday.
Acknowledging that Robert and Merryl Weiss had already received more than $350,000 in insurance payments, attorney Richard Trahant opened arguments in their lawsuit against Allstate by telling the jury that Allstate owed a lot more.
"The purpose of insurance is to make people whole," Trahant said. "My clients have not even been made half."
The Weiss lawsuit is believed to be only the second homeowners suit over Katrina damage to be tried in a Louisiana federal court.
At issue in this and other cases is whether damage was caused by wind or by storm flooding, which would be covered by the federal flood insurance program. During yesterday's opening arguments, each side accused the other of misrepresentation.
Saying that testimony would "shatter everything you think about that Good Hands logo," Trahant said Allstate had misrepresented part of the Weisses' claim to the federal flood insurance program, planning for that program to pick up a substantial portion of the cost.
Allstate lawyer Judy Barrasso argued it was the Weisses who had misrepresented their claim. She touched on allegations, already made in court papers, that the couple demanded that the company pay them at least $34,000 for a boathouse that Allstate says was not located on the insured property when Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005.
Barrasso also questioned why the couple had accepted flood insurance money - estimated in court papers at $350,000 - if they thought their damage had been caused by wind. "If that was a mistake, wouldn't they tell somebody?" she asked.
The Weisses blame Katrina's winds and possibly a storm-spawned tornado for demolishing their home in Slidell, northeast of New Orleans. Allstate concluded that the hurricane's storm surge was responsible for most of the damage.
The couple had a federal flood insurance policy and a separate Allstate homeowner's policy with limits of $343,000 for their dwelling and $240,100 for personal property.
Allstate paid them $350,000 for coverage under the flood policy - which is funded through the federal program - but only $29,483 for structural damage to their home and $14,787 for additional living expenses under their homeowner policy.
The Weisses say at least two of their neighbors were paid the full limits of their Allstate policies after Katrina destroyed their homes.