Are You One of 3,000 Individuals Owed Class Action Settlement Proceeds from Citizens Insurance?

BATON ROUGE, La., April 23 -- The Louisiana State Treasurer issued the following news release:

If you are one of roughly 3,000 individuals who participated in a class action lawsuit against the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) and never claimed your settlement proceeds, the money is now Unclaimed Property, according to State Treasurer John Kennedy.

"Regardless of the reason why this money was never claimed, it's our job to return it to you," said Treasurer Kennedy. "If you are owed money from this class action settlement, I encourage you to visit our website today to claim it. We will do everything possible to return this money as quickly and painlessly as possible."

The Treasury deposited $5.5 million in settlement proceeds on March 31 and loaded the names of participants into its Unclaimed Property database. There are 3,096 individuals who are owed claims in the amounts of $3,324.34 or $1,715.41.

The proceeds come from a class action lawsuit that was filed against Citizens for the slow adjustment of claims after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The state's Unclaimed Property Division received the proceeds for class members who did not collect their payment or who never cashed their checks.

"These particular claims are higher than our average Unclaimed Property refund, which is usually around $900," said Treasurer Kennedy. "If you participated in this class action settlement and never received your proceeds, there is no reason to let your money go unclaimed any longer."

All searches for unclaimed Citizens class action settlement proceeds should be done using the Treasury's main Unclaimed Property search page on www.LATreasury.com or by calling toll-free 1-888-925-4127 (Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.).

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