Weiss v. Allstate Insurance Company
Representing the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR), a consumer watchdog group, Public Justice asked the federal district court in New Orleans to make sure that Allstate Insurance Company could not get away with hiding practices and policies that illegally left homeowners empty-handed after Hurricane Katrina. We opposed Allstate’s request to seal a number of documents introduced in the trial of Weiss v. Allstate, the case of a New Orleans couple who won a $2.8 million verdict against Allstate for illegally refusing a hurricane-related claim. We argued that the trial exhibits provide insight into the company’s decision-making process and that denying public access to the documents “would directly impede FTCR’s mission of educating the public about insurance practices and abuses.” The district court refused Allstate’s request, specifically rejecting the company’s argument that public access to the trial exhibits would cause it prejudice in other litigation involving Hurricane Katrina claims. Former Public Justice Power-Cotchett Fellow Michael Lucas, Public Justice Staff Attorney Leslie Brueckner, and cooperating counsel Brian D. Katz, Stephen J. Herman, Joseph E. Cain, and Soren E. Gisleson of Herman Herman Katz & Cotlar, LLP in New Orleans represented FTCR.
