Louisiana Citizens Offers to Settle Katrina-Rita Suit for $80M

Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort has offered to settle a dispute over slow handling of hurricane claims from 2005 for up to $80 million, with no more than $25 million of that for attorneys’ fees — an offer that could sharply reduce the money that policyholders eventually receive. The governing board of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. approved the offer on Feb 9. The board was told that would cover about 25,000 policyholders who say Citizens did not begin adjusting their claims for hurricanes Katrina and Rita within 30 days as required by state law.