LA | The Louisiana Department of Insurance has issued Bulletin 2021-08 (Revised & Reissued).
Bulletin 2021-08, originally issued October 15, 2021, is being revised, in part, and reissued as amended to provide additional guidance. The original purpose of Bulletin 2021-08 was to establish a voluntary mediation program for all authorized property and casualty insurers and surplus lines insurers (hereinafter “insurers”) and their policyholders. In the wake of property devastation caused in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, the Louisiana Department of Insurance (“LDI”) issued Emergency Rule 22, which established a mandatory mediation program. The mediations conducted pursuant to Emergency Rule 22 resulted in the mediation of approximately 12,000 property damage disputes with a very high success rate. Given the success of that mediation program, the LDI is optimistic that a similar mediation program, to be known as the “Hurricane Ida Mediation Program” (the “Program”), could yield similar success.