-JACK O'BRIEN
I enjoyed my work at Common Ground Legal Advocacy this week. The week encompassed a wide range of tasks including researching liens and bonds for home improvement projects, drafting a demand later to an employer for a hotel employee's unpaid wages, writing a memorandum about J-1 visa expiration and guidelines/penalties for delayed renewal, briefly standing in as a legal observer in the event that community activists cleaning out a high school slated for destruction in the Ninth Ward were stopped by police, and navigating the complex statutory program for adversely possessing blighted properties in New Orleans.
The unique range of work was mirrored by the surrounding New Orleans community. The strange combination of desolation and rebirth that is omnipresent in New Orleans simultaneously motivates and depresses. A family rebuilding their home often sits next door to an unrecognizable property seemingly without any promise of future repair. New Orleans, although prideful and content, seems to be stubbornly progressing without a comprehensive federal plan or even state-wide plan for regrowth. Although we 14 Villanova law students willed our effort toward the cause, such pockets of positivity can only do so much without an overlying framework in which to fit into. Further issues then arise, and have arisen, as to what framework is best for New Orleans, whose view determines the selected framework, and what cultural and social narratives are omitted from that framework.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Map of Katrina Flood Water Depth and Levee Breaches
Click on the image below for an enlarged map of the flood water depths and levee breaches that occurred during Hurricane Katrina.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Allstate told to reinstate 4700+ New Orleans policies
Insurer must reinstate policies in New Orleans
Bloomberg News
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
NEW YORK: Allstate, the second- largest U.S. home and auto insurer, must reinstate as many as 4,772 policies in the New Orleans hurricane area after an investigation by Louisiana's insurance regulator found that some coverage was canceled improperly.
Allstate told Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon it had dropped the policies because they covered homes found to be abandoned, Donelon said Tuesday at a news conference broadcast on his Web site.
In examining a sampling of addresses, he found that some homes were being repaired instead.
"At best, it was a very ill-conceived and spottily implemented inspection program," Donelon said. "At worst, they wanted off of the coverage."
Allstate said it had inspected each property and given customers a chance to prove they were repairing their homes before dropping the policies. Construction at some homes may have begun only after the Allstate inspection, said the company spokeswoman, Kate Hollcraft.
Donelon ordered the Northbrook, Illinois-based company to restore all policies that were canceled without the homeowner's consent. Allstate is reviewing the order, Hollcraft said.
Allstate has been retreating from coastal areas to reduce its risks after Hurricane Katrina and other Gulf Coast storms pushed its 2005 catastrophic costs to $5.67 billion. The company stopped selling new policies in parts of Louisiana and other states last year.
State Farm reconsidering
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance will reconsider as many as 1,200 claims from Mississippi policyholders whose homes were reduced to concrete slabs by Hurricane Katrina, Bloomberg News reported.
The state's largest home insurer will have a new claim adjuster review each of the so-called "slab" claims, a company spokesman, Fraser Engerman, said Tuesday. Insurance Commissioner George Dale estimated that at least 800 cases would be re-examined.
Katrina's devastation in 2005 left room for widespread disputes because so little of some homes remained. Wind-related damage is covered, while wreckage from water is not.
"What we're telling them to do is to pay the claims based on a new set of eyes looking at the loss," Dale said in an interview. In most of State Farm's slab cases, policyholders have gotten "little or nothing," he said.
Bloomberg News
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
NEW YORK: Allstate, the second- largest U.S. home and auto insurer, must reinstate as many as 4,772 policies in the New Orleans hurricane area after an investigation by Louisiana's insurance regulator found that some coverage was canceled improperly.
Allstate told Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon it had dropped the policies because they covered homes found to be abandoned, Donelon said Tuesday at a news conference broadcast on his Web site.
In examining a sampling of addresses, he found that some homes were being repaired instead.
"At best, it was a very ill-conceived and spottily implemented inspection program," Donelon said. "At worst, they wanted off of the coverage."
Allstate said it had inspected each property and given customers a chance to prove they were repairing their homes before dropping the policies. Construction at some homes may have begun only after the Allstate inspection, said the company spokeswoman, Kate Hollcraft.
Donelon ordered the Northbrook, Illinois-based company to restore all policies that were canceled without the homeowner's consent. Allstate is reviewing the order, Hollcraft said.
Allstate has been retreating from coastal areas to reduce its risks after Hurricane Katrina and other Gulf Coast storms pushed its 2005 catastrophic costs to $5.67 billion. The company stopped selling new policies in parts of Louisiana and other states last year.
State Farm reconsidering
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance will reconsider as many as 1,200 claims from Mississippi policyholders whose homes were reduced to concrete slabs by Hurricane Katrina, Bloomberg News reported.
The state's largest home insurer will have a new claim adjuster review each of the so-called "slab" claims, a company spokesman, Fraser Engerman, said Tuesday. Insurance Commissioner George Dale estimated that at least 800 cases would be re-examined.
Katrina's devastation in 2005 left room for widespread disputes because so little of some homes remained. Wind-related damage is covered, while wreckage from water is not.
"What we're telling them to do is to pay the claims based on a new set of eyes looking at the loss," Dale said in an interview. In most of State Farm's slab cases, policyholders have gotten "little or nothing," he said.
Common Ground Legal Advocacy
Tom Baxter, Eli Roeschke, Dan Stefanides and Jack O'Brien of Villanova Law have been volunteering at Common Ground Legal Advocacy this week, doing a variety of law-related tasks from writing demand letters to investigating properties.
Tom "Country" Baxter and Eli Roeschke (above) are hard at work making appointments to go view Section 8 housing and verify its habitability.
John "Data" Parsons (above), of the New England School of Law, plugs away at the Common Ground Section 8 property database.
Dan Stefanides (above) hard at work at Common Ground.
National Guard Shoots Man in Lower 9th Ward
This story from the Times-Picayune online at www.nola.com/t-p/:
National Guard shoots man in Lower 9th Ward
A Louisiana National Guard member on patrol in the Lower Ninth Ward fatally shot a man early Thursday, police said.
Shortly before 1 a.m., a group of guardsmen came upon a man on a bicycle, holding a hacksaw and behaving oddly, according to New Orleans police. The guardsmen exited their vehicles near Benton and North Miro Streets to question to man. The unidentified man brandished a knife, threatened the guardsmen and threw a piece of broken glass at them, police said.
The glass allegedly cut a sergeant on the arm. The man then ran into a home in the 2100 block of Benton Street, which appeared to be in disrepair. Police said it is not known if the man lived there.
By this time, NOPD officers arrived at the scene and accompanied the guardsmen into the home, according to police.
Inside, the man allegedly pointed a rifle at the group. A National Guard Sergeant, not the one previously cut by the thrown glass, then fired on the man, police said.
The man sustained several gunshots to the upper torso and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The gun pointed at the officers was a BB gun, police said.
“New Orleans Police Homicide Detectives are investigating the incident,” the NOPD stated in a news release. “It appears the guardsman’s actions were appropriate and lawful.”
The man’s identity was unknown as of Thursday morning.
National Guard shoots man in Lower 9th Ward
A Louisiana National Guard member on patrol in the Lower Ninth Ward fatally shot a man early Thursday, police said.
Shortly before 1 a.m., a group of guardsmen came upon a man on a bicycle, holding a hacksaw and behaving oddly, according to New Orleans police. The guardsmen exited their vehicles near Benton and North Miro Streets to question to man. The unidentified man brandished a knife, threatened the guardsmen and threw a piece of broken glass at them, police said.
The glass allegedly cut a sergeant on the arm. The man then ran into a home in the 2100 block of Benton Street, which appeared to be in disrepair. Police said it is not known if the man lived there.
By this time, NOPD officers arrived at the scene and accompanied the guardsmen into the home, according to police.
Inside, the man allegedly pointed a rifle at the group. A National Guard Sergeant, not the one previously cut by the thrown glass, then fired on the man, police said.
The man sustained several gunshots to the upper torso and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The gun pointed at the officers was a BB gun, police said.
“New Orleans Police Homicide Detectives are investigating the incident,” the NOPD stated in a news release. “It appears the guardsman’s actions were appropriate and lawful.”
The man’s identity was unknown as of Thursday morning.
Prof. Bill Quigley
At orientation on Monday night, we heard from Prof. Bill Quigley of Loyola Law School. He is a New Orleans resident who told of his first-hand account of the Hurricane and its aftermath. He has the local reputation as being the most involved legal activist in the wake of Katrina and is serving as co-counsel in several ongoing lawsuits. His impressive PowerPoint presentation that he shows at all SHN orientations can be viewed online by cliking HERE.
LaFitte Housing Project
Despite being relatively undamaged by Hurricane Katrina, the LaFitte Housing Project remains closed and former residents arestill not allowed to return to their homes here.
LaFitte is one of four major public housing developments slated for demolition in the wake of Katrina, as part of HUD's plan to reduce public housing from 5,100 to 2,000 units. This plan has been challenged via a class action suit, the complaint for which can be viewed HERE.
Other public housing developments slated for demolition include: St. Bernard, Calliope and Magnolia.
LaFitte is one of four major public housing developments slated for demolition in the wake of Katrina, as part of HUD's plan to reduce public housing from 5,100 to 2,000 units. This plan has been challenged via a class action suit, the complaint for which can be viewed HERE.
Other public housing developments slated for demolition include: St. Bernard, Calliope and Magnolia.
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