THIS WEEK, the city of New Orleans celebrated Mardi Gras for the second time since being devastated by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. Thousands of tourists poured into the city and, fortunately, this year the city is better prepared than last for their arrival. While the modern celebration of Mardi Gras evokes certain moral quandaries, the resilience of the festival in New Orleans, with its parades, balls, and all the accompanying revelry gives hope to the city. Placed in a context with other recent events including the success of the New Orleans Saints and especially a promising insurance lawsuit in Mississippi, the traditional revelry accompanying Mardi Gras has not been the Crescent City and Gulf Coast's only hopeful sign of late.
One of the most prominent and inspiring stories came via the sports world. The New Orleans Saints spent much of last year as nomads, drifting from stadium to stadium, playing "home" games in Baton Rouge, San Antonio, and New York and finishing with the league's second worst record, going a lowly 3-13. This year the team bounced back and finished 10-6 and rolled to the NFC Championship Game. The team gave the city a rallying point, and as an emotionl favorite and tremendous underdog story, drew more attention to the continuing plight of the people of New Orleans and its neighboring areas.
But now that the NFL season has sunk into its yearly hiatus, New Orleans has again receded into the background, excepting occasional blips on the national radar with events like Mardi Gras. Sometimes these isolated incidents crop up as additional woe brought upon the city, such as the tornado that tore through parts of the city, wrecking newly rebuilt houses and remaining FEMA trailers alike. Sometimes it seems that New Orleans cannot catch a break in the slow process of rebuilding.
But occasionally, there are real, tangible glimmers of hope. Besides the success of the Saints, this year for Mardi Gras the city had over twice the number of rooms available it had last year, and tourists swarmed to them again.
Possibly the very best news for survivors of Hurricane Katrina comes from recent court decisions in lawsuits against insurance companies. Insurance claims problems began immediately after the storm, as whether or not the company must pay depends on the specific cause of the damage. In a case against State Farm, for example, the policyholders argued that the damage came from wind, whereas State Farm claimed that the damage came from the storm surge driven up by the wind. This seems like a difference of mere semantics, as either way the damage came from the storm, but from where the damage comes makes a huge difference in who pays for it. A Mississippi judge ruled that State Farm had to pay for the damage inflicted on the homes of 640 policyholders, amounting to nearly $80 million.
This decision could well be a turning point for the battle to recover from Hurricane Katrina. While this decision will have only a limited direct impact, affecting only the specific claimants in the case, and only in the state of Mississippi, it bodes well for those seeking money from other insurance companies and in other states. The judge responsible for the decision has asked lawyers representing other cases to come up with a sort of class action suit that would apply not only to State Farm but to other major insurance providers. If such a case could be won in favor of the residents of the Gulf Coast, the region might finally have a way to rebuild. An influx of money from insurance companies could provide the economic boost the Gulf Coast needs to rebuild.
Nearly 18 months removed from Hurricane Katrina, we have seen its survivors slowly fade out of the news, with only vague rumors of lingering trouble and occasional extraordinary events, such as the Saint's breakout season, sudden tornadoes or the annual madness of Mardi Gras. And while hope slowly and quietly increases with events such as the successful insurance lawsuit against State Farm, the problems of yesteryear have only begun to diminish. The region needs our help as much as ever, and merits at the very least our attention and a sympathetic ear.
Robby Colby's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at rcolby@cavalierdaily.com.
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