Supporters cite many complaints following 2020 storms

BATON ROUGE — The Senate Insurance Committee sent a property insurance claims process bill to the full Senate Wednesday that deals with adjusters’ reports and penalties for failure of companies to make a payment or written offer to settle claims.

Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Moss Bluff, is sponsor of House Bill 585 that cleared the House 96-0. Geymann didn’t repeat his earlier House testimony when he said there has to be a point when “we say we’ve got a problem.”

Geymann said many Southwest Louisiana homeowners have had to hire private adjusters or structural engineers to get adequate damage estimates. He added that others, including the elderly, can’t afford those steps or lack the ability to negotiate.

Robin Baudoin of Sulphur, who lost her two-story home in Hurricane Laura, testified for Geymann’s legislation. She, too, repeated testimony she made earlier in defense of another bill dealing with homeowner insurance claims.

Baudoin said her home was torn to pieces and she lost 90 percent of everything she had in the home. She said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said tarpaulins would have served no purpose in what was left of her home.

She has had four different adjusters and twice had to hire her own adjusters and structural engineers. That was because her company, State Farm, she said. insisted her home could be repaired.

“I have done everything they asked me to do,” Baudoin said. “They’ve avoided paying me, but not just me, also my neighbors and friends.”

Baudoin added, “The system has failed us. The stress is overwhelming. They are acting in bad faith.”

The company for the last two months has quit paying her living expenses, she said, and her only alternative was to file a lawsuit.

Sen. Gary Smith, D-Norco, said Baudoin’s story isn’t unique from the region where she lives. He said it was appalling to hear stories like hers. Smith said the rising cost of building materials has compounded the problems being faced by many.

The first part of Geymann’s legislation provides that an insurance company shall issue a copy of the insurer’s field adjuster report to the insured within 15 days of receiving a request from the policyholder.

Current law says failure to make a claims payment within 30 days after receipt of satisfactory written proof of loss subjects the insurance company to a payment of 50 percent damages on the amount found to be due from the company, or $1,000, whichever is greater.

Geymann’s bill proposed to increase that $1,000 penalty to $10,000. A committee amendment lowered the penalty to $2,500 or 50 percent of the difference between the amount paid and the amount found to be due as well as reasonable attorney fees, whichever is greater.

The amendment also says any penalties, if awarded, can’t be used by the insurance company in computing the setting of rates.

The committee earlier deferred another insurance bill for a week, hoping to come up with an understanding of what it means to say a home becomes uninhabitable. HB 458 by Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, and a longtime insurance adjuster, is designed to determine when homeowners are entitled to have insurance companies pay their living expenses. It passed the House unanimously.

The legislation said those expenses should be paid when the insured person’s location experiences a stoppage of water, electricity, sewer or natural gas services for a period of at least 24 hours.

Tom Clark of Baton Rouge, who represents Allstate, said Firment’s bill isn’t the best way to approach the problem. He said it is not good to set policy after what was considered the worst of storms. He said the industry is responding while admitting it isn’t perfect and some things could have been done better.

Some members of the committee were concerned about coming up with a better way to determine when a home is uninhabitable. They are worried about doing anything that might cause increases in insurance premiums. The bill will be heard again next week.

Firment has two bills that have cleared the House and are awaiting final action in the Senate. One sets standards of conduct for insurance adjusters, and the other deals with claims settlement practices.