ISSUES INSURANCE MANDATE - Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has ordered insurance providers to pay for up to two weeks of hotel rooms and meals for residents who fled the region because of Hurricane Ida even if they weren't in mandatory evacuation zones. The Insurance companies could face fines or be suspended from doing business for refusing to comply with the Insurance Commissioner’s order. Donelon was the featured guest at the Baton Rouge Press Club luncheon Monday, he said some companies had volunteered to pay evacuation claims except for the largest homeowner’s insurance provider in the state.
"When I got on a call with State Farm and to my absolute shock I was told by them that they were not going to accommodate that request," Donelon explained.
Hurricane Ida was a destructive Category 4 hurricane that became the second-most powerful hurricane to strike Louisiana, behind Hurricane Katrina. Ida made landfall on August 26th. Many insurance companies will cover short-term evacuation-related expenses if jurisdictions issue mandatory evacuation orders but many Parishes failed to do so. Donelon urged insurance companies to voluntarily waive that provision after learning some companies were planning to do so and would meet his request, but State Farm did not, prompting Donelon to turn his request into a mandate. State Farm now plans to challenge that mandate in court.
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