By Jayme Fraser, Houston Chronicle

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association has settled lawsuits alleging it intentionally underpaid thousands of property owners almost five years after Hurricane Ike razed Gulf Coast homes and just days after the Legislature ended without passing measures to reform the agency.

Steve Mostyn, lead attorney for the civil suits against the state-backed insurance provider, announced Tuesday the resolution of about 1,200 individual cases for a payout nearing $135 million.

"By settling the vast majority of homeowners' claims against TWIA, we are proud to be part of bringing hundreds of millions of dollars owed to our clients back to the coast," Mostyn said in a press release.

(Use the link above to read the full article)

Dear Board Members,

I write to inform and update many of you regarding recent action taken by the Co-Chair of this Board, Representative Larry Taylor of Friendswood. I express my concern today not only as an individual who pays for windstorm insurance, but also as an attorney for the over 10,000 families, churches, and businesses my firm represents who I am copying on this letter.

Co-Chair Larry Taylor, using his legislative power, wrote Texas Windstorm Insurance Association ("TWIA") requesting information on 2,400 families whose homes were completely destroyed during Hurricane Ike. l These cases are commonly referred to as "slab" cases because after Hurricane Ike hit, there was nothing left of their homes, but the slab foundation.

Rep. Taylor' s wholesale request for information sought the names, settlement amount, and personal and private information contained in the claims files of these 2,400 families. These claims files contain highly private information such as tax returns, credit card records and possibly medical records.

Rep. Taylor's request came almost two years after Hurricane Ike made landfall, but what prompted it? Not years of newspaper and television stories. Not hundreds of lawsuits filed by homeowners. Not calls from fellow legislators. Not TDI investigations. Not even community outrage.

Rep. Taylor's request came immediately after an insurance industry-backed, anticonsumer group failed in its attempts to get the very same information. Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a special interest, anti-consumer rights group, tried to get this same private information

(Please use the link above to access the full letter and all supporting Exhibits)

$189 million TWIA settlement negotiated by the Mostyn Law Firm on Ike "slab"claims
Breaking news from the Mostyn Law Firm! After years of grueling work by the Mostyn Law Firm, Steve Mostyn led negotiations to a resolution for approximately 2,400 Galveston County property owners covered by Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) windstorm policies whose homes were completely destroyed by Hurricane Ike. (Use the link above to read the full article) Years of hard work with intense depositions, thousands of pages of documents, long meetings with experts, numerous hearings, and endless emails and phone calls finally paid off with a proposed settlement of $189 million. (Use the link above to read the full article)

The suits are known as "slab" cases because they all involve properties where Hurricane Ike left little or nothing standing above ground when it made landfall Sept. 13, 2008. (Use the link above to read the full article)

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association will pay out an estimated $189 million to policyholders whose homes were razed to the slab nearly two years ago.

That figure assumes all of about 2,400 slab claims against the insurer are resolved under the proposed settlements, said policyholder attorney Steve Mostyn.

Individual policyholders that have attorneys can choose if they want to accept the offer, which includes the following: (Use the link above to read the full article)

Within the next month, those clients involved in the insurance fight should get notices from their respective attorneys about whether they want to accept a slice of a $189 million "mass settlement" with the state windstorm insurance pool, attorney Steve Mostyn said.

"It's an offer, but it's substantially more than what was paid on those cases," Mostyn said.

(Use the link above to read the full article)