It took three years for Scott Gordon to resolve the dispute that Hurricane Katrina spawned with his insurance company. Anything resembling a full recovery from the storm will take much longer.
“There are some scars that will probably never heal,” said Gordon, who recently settled the lawsuit he filed against State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. after the company refused to pay for all of the damage to his home in Long Beach, Miss.
Even as they watch the progress of Tropical Storm Gustav, thousands of southern Mississippi homeowners remain bitter after battles over insurance companies’ refusal to pay for much of the damage from Katrina, which hit Aug. 29, 2005.
Mass settlements of homeowners’ lawsuits and a series of favorable court rulings have helped the insurance industry come close to closing the books on Katrina by the storm’s third anniversary. Satisfaction for many policyholders has been more elusive.
Magnolia Tribune
