Hurricane Irene’s weekend march up the Atlantic Coast caused at least 20 deaths, left millions without power and left a path of destruction from Florida to Maine.

A Florida supply company sued an international conglomerate for allegedly lying about defective Chinese drywall used to rebuild after hurricane disasters, which forced the company to pay about $55 million in legal settlements.

Residents of homes with faulty drywall reached an $8 million settlement with a New Orleans company that distributed the Chinese drywall to homes in the Gulf region for rebuilding after hurricane disasters.

A lawyer in Louisiana is facing disciplinary action for allegedly improperly notarizing four insurance court cases involving Hurricane Katrina claims to apparently ensure they were filed in time.

The earthquake in Japan, where estimated losses would make it the worst disaster in history, will affect insurance rates in the U.S., according to industry experts.

The insurance industry is expected to adapt more cloud computing, which offers “affordable and flexible” services that “level the playing field and let small companies compete,” professionals say.

A Florida appeals court ruled Dec. 29 that public insurance adjusters’ commercial free speech rights are violated if they are prohibited from soliciting people until 48 hours after an event that could lead to an insurance claim.

The man who led the New Orleans airport’s reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina now faces federal charges that he filed a false insurance claim on his vehicle.

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. plans to pay $23 million to settle a civil suit where thousands of people say they were not properly compensated for hurricane losses after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The trade and mainstream press will soon be filled with articles commenting on the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina—the largest insurance event in history and certainly one of the deadliest. Rather than look at the accumulated statistics, I thought it would be interesting to ask the question, “Have the Atlantic and Gulf Coast state insurance markets prepared for the next big hurricane?”