As an estimated 1,000 lawsuits related to the 2016 flood continue to wend their way through federal court in Baton Rouge, CBS Evening News will tonight air an investigative report focusing on the plight of a Baton Rouge couple who, more than 18 months after the historic flood, have yet to complete rebuilding their home and are fighting the National Flood Insurance Program for more than $100,000 they say they are owed.
The two-part report, which concludes Tuesday, will detail how Richard and Linda Brown filed suit against the NFIP after receiving just $62,000 on a $168,000 policy to repair their house, which was totally destroyed by the flood. The story goes on to explore how FEMA, which runs the NFIP, actually outsources most of the administration of the program to private insurance companies, which get paid from the same pot of money as flood victims. Some years, up to two-thirds of NFIP funding have gone to private insurance companies and the attorneys they hire to fight flood victims’ claims, the report will show.
New Orleans attorney John Houghtaling II, who successfully represented hundreds of flood victims in Superstorm Sandy, is handling the Brown’s case and says it’s one of more than 100 he has filed locally in the U.S. Middle District Court of Louisiana.
