page_title: Property insurance
section_title: Post-Hurricane Katrina property insurance claims
hierarchical_section_title: Property insurance / US Property Insurance Claims / Post-Hurricane Katrina property insurance claims
caption_attribution_description: English: New Orleans, La. August 30, 2005 --Aerial view of New Orleans and the surrounding area showing the flood waters and damage caused from Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans continues to be evacuated as a result of floods caused by failures of the Federal levee system. Photo by Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA
context_page_description: Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or boiler insurance. Property is insured in two main ways—open perils and named perils.
  Open perils cover all the causes of loss not specifically excluded in the policy. Common exclusions on open peril policies include damage resulting from earthquakes, floods, nuclear incidents, acts of terrorism, and war. Named perils require the actual cause of loss to be listed in the policy for insurance to be provided. The more common named perils include such damage-causing events as fire, lightning, explosion, and theft.
context_section_description: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, several thousand homeowners filed lawsuits against their insurance companies accusing them of bad faith and failing to properly and promptly adjust their claims.
caption: New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
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