Caught this off
Raw Story. I'm not a lawyer, but married to a good one. Regardless, these people are getting shafted, as usual, and anyone who files lawsuits on their behalf will be stigmatized as ambulance chasers. Blame the victims, and then blame their lawyers.
More below.
The insurance industry, for the last decade or so has stopped paying claims whenever they can get away with it. They don't care if you've been paying your premium every month without fail. They are looking for every single possible loophole out of paying you a cent. It's true.
Whether it's your own insurance or the other guy's, there are no more deals being made amicably. Every single little case is going to arbitration or mediation instead of being settled. So why should the industry roll over on paying out billions of dollars for Katrina? The wind/surge/flood issue is murky enough without compounding it with the murkiness of whose responsibility it was to prevent or mitigate damages.
The only thing that's clear is that the little guy is being set up to lose, and his only defense is hiring a good attorney.