NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Amid soaring property insurance premiums, a Louisiana state lawmaker is proposing legislation that would allow insurance companies to offer policies barring property owners from suing if they believe they’ve been treated unfairly.

Rep. Mark Wright, a Republican from Covington, authored House Bill 379. The bill has already passed the full House and was recently heard by the Senate Insurance Committee.

“Arbitration is not for everybody. It’s not for every case but under the circumstances and the details of the bill, I think definitely it could help some consumers,” Wright said.

A representative from the Louisiana Department of Insurance testified alongside Wright in support of the bill.

“There is mandatory language informing the consumer of what they’re purchasing. If the consumer wants to purchase, or if the insurer’s offering this endorsement, they have to also offer a policy without the endorsement,” said Adam Patrick.

Patrick said arbitration-only policies would come with premium discounts. Committee Chair Sen. Kirk Talbot of River Ridge emphasized that consumers should be informed about how much they’re saving in exchange for giving up their right to sue.

“I wouldn’t want them to sign this and then to find out they got a $50 discount. You know, I would, I would want the insurance companies to say this is the discount you’re going to get if you do this,” Talbot said.

Sen. Royce Duplessis, a New Orleans Democrat, warned that some property owners may not fully grasp the consequences of agreeing to arbitration-only coverage.

“That’s just always my concern because I think people are really, they’re going to always go for the discount not fully understanding the rights that they’re giving up,” Duplessis said.

Members of the public echoed those concerns during testimony.

“Many people are going to make a decision if I could save $19.00 a month, I’m going to do it, okay. But ultimately what they’re giving up is the right to go to court,” said Luke Williamson of the Louisiana Association for Justice.

A Lake Charles pastor shared a personal story, describing how his church struggled to recover from Hurricane Laura due to arbitration constraints.

“When we arrived at the table, they weren’t interested in hearing what we had to say. They offered us 1/20th of what we needed and then they fought with us all day long to no avail,” said Burke. “And finally we were able to come away with less than half of what we needed. An entire building that had served our community, we were unable to rebuild it.”

Duplessis continued to raise concerns.

“Most people, they don’t even know what arbitration is,” he said.

Talbot suggested the bill could be improved with additional consumer protections.

“Maybe between here and the floor, we could add something to say you know please consult an attorney before you sign this,” he said.

The committee amended the bill to include language informing consumers that arbitration is not a free service.

“I wanted to add to this to say that you may be responsible for the expense of going to arbitration because I don’t want people to read this and think, oh, I’m not going to have any expense,” Talbot said.

The bill now heads to the full state Senate, where further amendments are expected.

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