Firm Secures Final Settlement in School Board Suit

Fishman Haygood has successfully secured a final settlement with insurers for the Orleans Parish School Board relating to damage the School Board’s facilities suffered in Hurricane Katrina.

The School Board had insurance coverage totaling $200 million covering 150 properties before Katrina; however, most of the coverage only included damage caused by wind and rain, not flood damage.

The School Board filed suit against its insurers in 2006 to collect damage caused to its facilities by wind and rain. After litigating the case in federal court for several years, the School Board gradually settled with its various insurers, with the final settlement reached on October 4.

Fishman Haygood’s Brent Barriere and Skylar Rosenbloom represented the School Board in the years-long dispute. As Brent stated in an article about the settlement in The Times-Picayune: “I think it’s a good day for the School Board. I think it’s a good resolution for the children waiting for new school buildings.”

The law firms of Chopin Wagar Richard & Kutcher, LLP; Boykin, Ehret & Utley, PLC; and Trevor Bryan, APLC also served as co-counsel on the case.