FIRST KATRINA INSURANCE LAWSUIT OPENS TODAY

My hopes and prayers are with the Leonards. I hope they win this one!!

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
The Associated Press

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A trial set to open here Monday is expected to be the first legal test of the wind-versus-water debate that has pitted thousands of Gulf Coast policyholders against their insurance companies since Hurricane Katrina.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a Pascagoula police officer against Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. after the insurer refused to cover damage to his home, will be heard by a federal judge, not a jury.

The case is believed to be the first Katrina-related insurance suit to be tried since the storm roared ashore Aug. 29 and destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of Gulf Coast homes.

Police Lt. Paul Leonard and his wife, Julie, claim Nationwide denied their claim without thoroughly investigating whether Katrina's wind or "storm surge" was responsible for the damage to their house, which is several hundred yards from the Mississippi Sound.

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