Lake Charles City Council sends resolution to state officials regarding hurricane insurance claims

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Lake Charles City Council voted unanimously to send a resolution regarding the handling of hurricane insurance claims to state officials.

They will be sending it to the Commissioner of Insurance James J. “Jim” Donelon and the Southwest Louisiana Legislative Delegation.

Councilmen John Ieyoub of District D and Mark Eckard of District G are sponsoring the resolution, which requests action to “address many issues related to hurricane damage adjustments and to require that homeowner’s insurers and agents in the State of Louisiana provide greater clarity and transparency,” says Katie Harrington, public information officer for the City of Lake Charles.

“It has been six months since Hurricane Laura made landfall in Southwest Louisiana and many are still waiting on help from their homeowner’s insurance policies,” said Councilman John Ieyoub. “From having to fight for adequate dollars to repair homes to their pre-storm conditions, to trying to obtain reimbursement for unexpected living expenses, our residents are fighting an uphill battle that they just simply should not have to fight, especially on policies they’ve paid for over the years.”

The resolution asks for review of reimbursements and for legislative review of the way policy changes are communicated to insureds.

“Many people were caught off guard by hurricane deductibles,” added Councilman Mark Eckard. “This resolution is asking for better communication on changes to policies so insureds are not caught unaware by special named-storm deductibles and other fine print items that they may not know have been added to their policies over the years.”

The creation of uniform definitions in layman’s terms is asked for all homeowner’s insurance policies. Also, the creation of uniform standards for all insureds when it comes to determining actual cash value, depreciation and replacement costs. The creation of a uniform method for reporting property damage, content loss and reimbursable expenses among other things, is included as well.