Katrina: The Aftermath: 'You've Got to Make Them Feel Good About Something'
Atlanta Constitution Journal
September 18, 2005


Megan Lane is a strange blend of order and chaos.

 Under uprooted trees are lawns that still show signs of manicured care. Creature comforts of middle-class life --- an antique dining room table here, a big-screen television there--- are piled curbside into heaps of trash. The noxious stench of human waste and decay from receding waters is inescapable.

 Amid this backdrop of destruction that beset the New Orleans suburb, Tim Connor, an insurance claims adjuster, begins his task of telling Jim and Laura Murphy what will be covered as they rebuild their home.

…

We've gotten tons of calls because of questions about winds or water," George Dale, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Insurance. "If it were not for that question, the insurance world would have gotten good marks for handling a storm of this size."

 The department fielded so many complaints immediately following Katrina that on Sept. 7, Dale issued an advisory to all companies that issue policies in Mississippi not to deny claims unless they physically inspect the property.

 The suit filed by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood seeks a court order that would prevent insurance companies from denying flood claims when those floods are caused by wind. It also accuses some insurance companies of forcing consumers into signing documents that stipulate their losses are flood-related, not wind-related, before they can receive payment for emergency living expenses; the suit would ban such practices.

 Meanwhile, because so many Katrina victims lost their jobs in addition to their homes, the state imposed a 60-day moratorium on canceling policies for nonpayment of premiums.

 "We're hearing that people can't even get anyone on the phone at this point," said Joanne Doroshow, spokeswoman for the New York-based Americans for Insurance Reform. "Appointments are made, and no one shows up."

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