NU Online News Service, Feb. 8, 3:07 p.m.EST

Negotiations between Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.and plaintiffs' attorneys over more than $100 million are off to abad start.

According to Richard Robertson, chief executive officer ofCitizens, the state-run insurer and plaintiffs' attorneys continueto meet today in an attempt to resolve years of litigation withpolicyholders who say the last-resort insurer failed to start theclaims-adjusting process within the time frame set by law followingHurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Yesterday, Citizens presented an $80 million offer to settle thecase. Attorneys representing the class of plaintiffs in a lawsuitagainst Citizens countered with an offer of $123 million to be paidin three installments.

Robertson says Citizens' offer “comes with conditions and therehas been no formal acceptance or rejection.”

However, attorneys for the plaintiffs say Citizens made itsoffer to the public after their meeting. The offer has not beenmade to policyholders. In fact, Citizens only offered $35 millionduring the meeting yesterday, they say.

The offers are being made to settle an ongoing legal battleagainst Citizens. Most recently, the state Supreme Court reinstatedwhat is now a judgment of more than $100 million against Citizens,paving the way for about 18,575 Citizens policyholders to collect$5,000 each. However, the amount of people eligible to join theclass could rise. Attorneys say the reward could be closer to about$145 million.

According to plaintiffs' attorneys, their settlement offershould not have been publicized by Citizens and InsuranceCommissioner Jim Donelon.

Fred Herman, class counsel, says the actions of Citizens andDonelon are “highly unprofessional.”

Donelon has “made a public spectacle of the so-called 'offer' of$80 million, but he and the Citizens board fail to understand thatwe have a judgment for $104 million plus $10,000 per day ininterest until the funds are paid,” says Wiley Beevers, who servesas class counsel.

Sharing the negotiations with the public is a “stalling tactic”to delay payments to policyholders, Beevers says.

“We cannot do business with them like this,” he adds. “IfDonelon wants to negotiate this way, he should just rent an eventhall and invite the public in for the negotiation.”

Beevers says the class is engaged in a battle with Citizens'bank to unfreeze the insurer's account. The class wants its moneyturned over to authorities for safe-keeping, he says. Anotherlawsuit could be filed against the bank, Beevers adds.