Latest Louisiana Headlines

All the headlines from our Louisiana Topic Page, ordered by recency.

People

Nov 6 2017 // Dallas-based independent insurance brokerage RHSB has named Julia Miller Spracklen J.D. as chief operating officer and Courtney Woodruff as senior vice president in its Commercial Lines Division. Additionally, John Losurdo...

Louisiana Ramps Up Effort to Stop Worker Misclassification

Nov 6 2017 // State and federal government entities that have been partnering since 2013 on a Louisiana task force targeting employers who misclassify workers plan to increase their efforts next year, according to the Louisiana...

Louisiana Attorney General Wants Control of Governor’s Opioid Lawsuit

Nov 2 2017 // Louisiana’s attorney general is trying to take control of a lawsuit filed by Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration accusing pharmaceutical companies of worsening opioid abuse in the state. The Advocate reports...

U.S. Supreme Court Declines Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Lawsuit

Oct 31 2017 // The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to revive a Louisiana flood protection board’s lawsuit seeking to make oil, gas and pipeline companies pay for decades of damage to coastal wetlands. The suit drew fierce opposition...

Investors in Litigation Financing Target Commercial Auto

Oct 31 2017 // Investor-funded litigation is not new but it is expanding its reach in commercial auto cases, according to experts in the field. Panelists at the 2017 Risk Management Summit in Las Vegas, Nev., addressed the growing trend...

3 Licensed Producers Accused of Insurance Fraud Scheme in Louisiana

Oct 30 2017 // Two women in East Baton Rouge Parish have been served cease and desist orders by the Louisiana Department of Insurance Fraud Division investigators for allegedly fraudulently altering the vital information and beneficiary...

Report: Seatbelt Use Lags Among Louisiana Truck Drivers, Passengers

Oct 30 2017 // Louisiana’s pickup truck drivers buckle up less regularly than motorists in cars, SUVs and vans. That’s the finding of a new seatbelt use study from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. The group says 87...

Louisiana Ramps Up Effort to Prevent Employers from Misclassifying Workers

Oct 27 2017 // Several state and federal government entities partnering on a Louisiana task force to target employers who misclassify workers plan increased activity in 2018, according to the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC). The...

Louisiana Sheriff Rejected Applicant Because of HIV, Lawsuit Says

Oct 26 2017 // A Louisiana man says a sheriff’s office withdrew a job offer after finding out he has HIV, according to a federal lawsuit filed Oct. 24. “It’s the equivalent of not hiring somebody because they had cancer...

Mumphrey Joins LWCC in Louisiana as Chief Information Officer

Oct 25 2017 // Louisiana workers’ compensation insurer, LWCC, has hired Kappie Mumphrey as its chief information officer (CIO). Mumphrey is an IT leader with over 25 years’ experience in management, including having served as...

Food Poisoning at Louisiana Fundraiser Blamed for 1 Death; More than 100 Sickened

Oct 23 2017 // Louisiana health officials say a second bacterium apparently contributed to the mass food poisoning that may have killed one person and apparently sickened more than 100 people who ate at a fundraiser. Assistant State...

Brown & Brown Acquires Louisiana Employee Benefits Firm

Oct 20 2017 // Brown & Brown of Louisiana LLC, a subsidiary of Florida-based Brown & Brown Inc., has acquired substantially all of the assets of Lapeyre, Staples & Robichaux, the companies announced. Lapeyre, Staples and...

After Harvey Suspension, OSHA Resumes Regular Enforcement in Texas, Louisiana

Oct 16 2017 // After suspending most enforcement actions in Texas and Louisiana following Hurricane Harvey, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Oct. 10 resumed normal enforcement...

Louisiana Oil Platform Explodes; Search Continues for Missing Worker

Oct 16 2017 // The search continued for a worker missing from an oil production platform in Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain that exploded and caught fire late Sunday, sending six others to hospital with injuries, the U.S. Coast...

Louisiana Governor Unhappy State Was Left Out of Disaster Tax Relief Program

Oct 16 2017 // Gov. John Bel Edwards’ is disappointed that Louisiana has been left out of a federal program providing disaster tax relief to victims of this year’s hurricanes. Edwards said he can’t “wrap my head...

Butler Named Chief of Staff at Louisiana Insurance Department

Oct 13 2017 // Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has appointed Mary Elizabeth “Liz” Butler as chief of staff of the Louisiana Department of Insurance (LDI). Butler will oversee the agency budget, personnel and day-to-day...

LCTA Workers’ Comp’s Prevot to Serve on Louisiana’s Opioid Prevention Advisory Council

Oct 11 2017 // Troy Prevot, executive vice president of Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based LCTA Workers’ Comp, has been appointed to serve on the state’s Advisory Council on Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education, the insurer...

Sunday Update: Weakened Tropical Storm Nate Brings Rain, Tornado Warnings to South

Oct 7 2017 // Hurricane Nate weakened to a tropical depression on Sunday after coming ashore in Mississippi, flooding roads and buildings but sparing the state from catastrophic damages. Maximum sustained winds from Nate, the fourth...

Left Out of Disaster Tax Relief Program, Louisiana Offers Bigger Flood Aid Loans for Small Businesses

Oct 6 2017 // Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration is boosting the size of loans available to small businesses damaged by last year’s flooding in Louisiana and is extending the deadline for applications. The Restore...

Louisiana Cities Experienced Economic Ups and Downs in 2016

Sep 27 2017 // Louisiana’s eight metropolitan areas included two of the nation’s fastest growing economies and two of its fastest shrinking ones in 2016. Lake Charles’ economy grew 8.1 percent, the fastest in the nation...