A LaPlace church is suing its out-of-state insurance company for failure to pay for timely repairs the church sustained last year during a double punch from spring winds and flooding and Hurricane Ida at the end of August.
The First Baptist Church of LaPlace filed the federal lawsuit against Church Mutual Insurance Co. of Merrill, Wisc., April 4 in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The losses sustained by the church last year total more than $1 million, according to the lawsuit.
“On April 13, 2021, while the policy was in full force and effect, the insured premises sustained significant damages resulting from a severe storm, causing widespread wind, rain, hail and flooding across Southern Louisiana, especially in LaPlace,” the complaint says.
Church officials hired contractors to make repairs, but reimbursement for the damage did not arrive until after Hurricane Ida struck on Aug. 29, according to the lawsuit. Under state law, insurers have to pay the amount of claims within 30 days of receipt of documentation showing the extent of the damage, the plaintiffs argue.
Failure to comply with the state law “subjects the insurer to a penalty, in addition to the amount of loss, of 50% on the amount found to be due from the insurer to the insured or $1,000, whichever is greater,” the lawsuit says.
An attorney with the Potts Law Firm, Charles Cicero, expressed confidence that the church’s position would be affirmed by the courts.
“The defendant in this case has acknowledged the lawsuit, and we expect the insurer will continue to be bound by the timelines and directives found in state law,” Cicero said in an email to the Louisiana Record. “We’re confident that those laws and the contractual terms of the church’s insurance policy will be upheld in the courts as this case progresses.”
The church also sought compensation for damage, including extensive water intrusion, sustained during Hurricane Ida.
“Despite being aware of the critical damage to the structure and undisputed existence of damage, Church Mutual grossly underpaid the claim and refused to pay anywhere near enough to properly remediate and repair the insured premises, instead falsely claiming much of the damage was from the April 13, 2021, storm,” the complaint states.
A Church Mutual spokeswoman declined to provide a comment on the substance of the church’s legal claims.
“Out of respect for our customers and the legal process, we do not comment on active litigation,” Dawn Bernatz, the company’s director of corporate communications, told the Record in an email.