Citizens Property Insurance class-action awards could be at least ...

Baton Rouge -- A total of 18,573 plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state-run property insurance company should get at least $3,000 each when the claims are paid this year or in early 2013, lawyers for the group said Tuesday. Fred Herman, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs who alleged that Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. did not properly follow its claims policy after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, said approximately $105 million for the payments was turned over to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office late Monday.

The next step will be a hearing on how the money will be paid out and how much the attorneys' fees and other legal costs will run. Herman said that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit could get paid between November and January.

Herman said 24th Judicial District Court Judge Henry Sullivan in Gretna, who has handled the case since it was filed in 2006, has a status conference with the lawyers scheduled for Aug. 3 to start working through the details of the cash distribution.

"There is no way it can be stopped at this point now," Herman said of the long-delayed payout to the members of the class-action lawsuit titled Geraldine Oubre et al. vs. Louisiana Citizens Fair Plan. "This is the final chapter in this part of the saga."

Herman said "several thousand" other claimants may also be involved in a separate award.

"As far as we are concerned they have come to the end of the road," said Wiley Beevers, another attorney in the class-action litigation. "Citizens has exhausted all legal remedies."

Richard Robertson, president and chief executive officer of Citizens, agreed. "The money is already gone" from the Citizens bank account at Regions Bank, he said.

Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said, "It is in their account. It is all over."

Herman said that award to the plaintiffs could be up to $4,000 each based on how much Sullivan awards to the lawyers for their fees. Based on past procedures, attorneys representing the class could get 25 percent to 40 percent of the award, he said.

Citizens has battled paying the claims for years, alleging that Sullivan granted the judgment without giving the state-run insurer of last resort a proper hearing and due process. The case at one point wound up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to grant relief.

Sullivan originally awarded a judgment of $92.86 million to the members of the class action in 2009 but that has grown by $10,000 a day in interest since.

Herman said the approximately $105 million was turned over shortly after the state Supreme Court refused to delay the payments in a lawsuit that Citizens filed against Regions Bank, where the cash was held in an account.

The Baton Rouge-based 1st Circuit Court of Appeal took less than three hours Friday to deny Citizens' claim against Regions, setting up Monday's last-ditch appeal and rejection.

Robertson said that even with the award, Citizens "has more than adequate cash reserves to operate smoothly."

"We have a balance of $100 million to $110 million in cash reserves" but a large payout of claims from a storm this year "could put enormous pressure on the company."

Ed Anderson can be reached at eanderson@timespicayune.com or 225.342.5810.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/07/citizens_class-action_awards_c.html

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