NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) - State Farm Mutual, the largest home and car insurer in the United States, said it is seeking a deal with Louisiana to resolve at least 400 damage cases dating from 2005's hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which decimated New Orleans and much of the U.S. Gulf Coast. "We are talking to Louisiana Insurance Commissioner James Donelon regarding a similar arrangement to the one we made with Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale," said Jeff McCollum, a spokesman for State Farm. Donelon's office had no immediate comment. After a contentious series of legal battles ended in a stalemate between the Bloomington, Illinois-based insurer and its Mississippi clients who lost their homes in the storms, Dale stepped in and offered to help residents settle the claims and help accelerate payments -- even to residents who had already received some money from the insurer. Under the agreement negotiated with State Farm, Mississippi residents would still have the right to go to court if they were not happy with their offers from State Farm. McCollum said State Farm was initially looking to resolve 400 Louisiana "slab cases," in which houses were completely destroyed by the hurricane, but could add other claimants later. State Farm had a total of more than 240,000 claims from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana. State Farm has already paid $3.6 billion in claims in Louisiana, McCollum said. In total, hurricanes cost the insurance industry more than $68 billion in 2005.
