Michael Kunzelman

January 24, 2008 | Daily Report Online

NEW ORLEANS AP - Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says his office opened a new criminal investigation of State Farm Insurance Cos. that is separate from its earlier probe of the insurer's "crimes against policyholders" after Hurricane Katrina.State Farm is suing Hood for allegedly violating an agreement last year to end a criminal investigation of the company's handling of claims following the Aug.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

4 minute read

January 09, 2007 | Daily Report Online

GULFPORT, Miss. AP - Even as the Mississippi attorney general negotiates a potential settlement with State Farm Fire Casualty Co., an eight-person jury will begin hearing opening statements Tuesday in one of hundreds of insurance lawsuits filed by policyholders after Hurricane Katrina.By seating the jury of four women and four men to hear the lawsuit brought against State Farm by Norman and Genevieve Broussard, U.

By Michael Kunzelman

5 minute read

March 22, 2007 | Daily Report Online

A FEDERAL JUDGE on Thursday refused to allow a class action against State Farm Insurance Cos. over the insurer's denial of claims on Mississippi's Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.State Farm policyholder Judy Guice had asked U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. to permit her to join other policyholders whose homes were reduced to slabs by the August 2005 storm in a class action against the Bloomington, Ill.

By Michael Kunzelman

4 minute read

August 06, 2007 | Daily Report Online

NEW ORLEANS AP - The U.S. Department of Justice is weighing whether to intervene in a lawsuit that accuses insurance companies of overbilling the federal government for flood damage from Hurricane Katrina, a judge who unsealed the case on Monday said.A team of lawyers filed the so-called "whistleblower" suit in April 2006 on behalf of two sisters who worked for a company that helped State Farm Insurance Co.

By Michael Kunzelman

4 minute read

January 27, 2010 | Daily Report Online

NEW ORLEANS AP - The four men accused of trying to tamper with Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's office phones share a common experience as young ideologues writing for conservative publications.Federal authorities said two of the men posed as telephone workers wearing hard hats, tool belts and flourescent vests when they walked into the senator's office inside a federal building in New Orleans on Monday.

By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

6 minute read

February 27, 2013 | Daily Report Online

Once the object of ridicule and focus of outrage after the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP former chief executive Tony Hayward made a cameo Wednesday at the trial over the disaster, briefly showing up on a videotape in what may be his only appearance in the courtroom.

By Michael Kunzelman

5 minute read

April 08, 2010 | Daily Report Online

NEW ORLEANS AP - A federal judge on Thursday awarded seven Virginia families $2.6 million in damages for homes ruined by sulfur-emitting drywall made in China, a decision that could affect how lawsuits by thousands of other U.S. homeowners are settled.It remains to be seen how the plaintiffs can collect from Chinese companies that do not have to respond to U.

By CAIN BURDEAU and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

5 minute read

February 14, 2013 | Daily Report Online

Now that a $4 billion plea deal has resolved BP's criminal liability for the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill nearly three years ago, the company will turn its focus to a trial that could potentially cost it billions of dollars more in civil penalties.

By Michael Kunzelman

6 minute read

February 07, 2007 | Daily Report Online

AP - More than 100 Mississippi policyholders who sued State Farm Insurance Cos. for refusing to cover damage from Hurricane Katrina have been paid this week as part of a multimillion dollar settlement with the insurer, attorneys for the homeowners said.State Farm agreed last month to pay about $80 million to settle lawsuits filed by 640 policyholders whose claims were denied after the Aug.

By Michael Kunzelman

4 minute read

November 15, 2012 | Daily Report Online

BP said Thursday that it will pay $4.5 billion in a settlement with the U.S. government over the massive 2010 oil spill and will plead guilty to felony counts related to the deaths of 11 workers and lying to Congress.

By Michael Kunzelman

7 minute read