Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., has filed a lawsuit against his insurer in a dispute over water damage to his Gulf Coast home, and said he may not run for re-election because of it.
The senator lost his home in Pascagoula, Miss., when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area in late August. Sen. Lott, in an interview with the Sun Herald, a southern Mississippi newspaper, said his losses totaled around $400,000 after taking flood insurance into account, roughly half of his net worth.
Sen. Lott is suing to have his homeowners insurer, State Farm, pay his remaining loss, which the carrier is denying on the grounds that it involves flood damage, which is excluded by policy language.
State Farm said it could not comment on the litigation, but "we handle each claim on its own merits and we pay what we owe according to the contract," said a company representative, Phil Supple.
The senator filed his lawsuit through Richard Scruggs, a high-profile plaintiff attorney who has previously taken on cigarette and asbestos manufacturers, and is now bringing suits to compel insurers to reimburse homeowners for hurricane damage, arguing that the product they sold should have covered it.
Mr. Scruggs is also the senator's brother-in-law.
In the interview, Sen. Lott said that he filed suit despite his Republican disdain for the work of the plaintiff bar, noting that he told Mr. Scruggs: "I don't believe in what he does–those big plaintiffs' suits–but how can insurance companies say we didn't have any wind damage from this storm?"
"From a personal standpoint, I need a little more income, but the people I care most about, those on the coast, are hurting and need help," he added.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, has filed suit on behalf of the citizens of the state to force insurers to pay for wind-driven water damages and tidal surge that carriers have denied, saying they are subject to flood exclusion language.
The state's Republican governor, Haley Barbour, has said he prefers to negotiate with insurers to provide more for those who have lost their homes.
Insurance industry groups and their member companies have strongly opposed Mr. Hood's lawsuit, saying that a ruling in his favor would effectively eviscerate contract law by requiring insurers to cover damages specifically excluded in their policies and force insurers to cover damages for which they have not collected premiums.
Sen. Lott had harsh words for State Farm, noting that the company's chairman, Edward B. Rust Jr., "really made me mad."
"I talked to him after I had been dealing with them for so long," Sen. Lott added. "He said he would look into my situation. I told him I didn't want any special consideration; I wanted them to do what was right for everybody."
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