(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would not hear an appeal from insurer Louisiana Citizens on a class-action lawsuit that followed Hurricane Katrina, handing another victory to plaintiffs who are already owed more than $105 million.
A local court in 2009 ordered Louisiana Citizens, the state's insurer of last resort, to pay penalties to policyholders because it took too long to start adjusting more than 18,500 claims after the devastating hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
A state appellate court overturned the verdict, but the Louisiana Supreme Court reinstated it last December. On Monday the nation's highest court denied Citizens' petition for the court to consider its case, which an attorney for the plaintiffs said effectively ended the insurer's appeals.
"What this tells us is that there was no mistake by the Louisiana Supreme Court and there was no federal question," said the attorney, Wiley Beevers of the Louisiana law firm Beevers & Beevers.
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