THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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S u n d ay, J u n e 29, 2025
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Louisiana residents await relief on home insurance years into crisis, little progress evident in reducing rates
BY SAM KARLIN | Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
The new owner of Northgate Mall, Jacoby Landry, bought the 250,000-square-foot building earlier this month for $2.8 million. He’s the first local owner in decades of the 55-year-old mall.
New vision for Northgate Mall
Renovating Lafayette’s oldest mall will take lots of work, but a local developer welcomes the challenge BY ADAM DAIGLE | Acadiana business editor Ebony Roberts opened her Northgate Mall business one morning last summer and found the air conditioning unit hanging from the ceiling. She had to close her business, Ebony’s Beauty Hair and Skin Care, and it took 21/2 weeks to get someone out to look at it. Other disasters followed. The store flooded three times. The last one came on Halloween when water came out the foundation just be-
fore they were to hand out candy to children. Now Roberts is in new location but still inside the Northgate Mall. She did not want to leave. “It was on the radar,” Roberts said. “God had me on a mission, and I always follow his lead. I’ve got a lot of customers who don’t have transportation. They were my main concern as well. Lisa (Champagne, the former mall manager) did what she could, but she needed more help from the original owners.”
Roberts and the handful of others who remain in Lafayette’s oldest shopping mall now have reason for optimism. The 250,000-square-foot building was sold earlier this month for $2.8 million to local developer Jacoby Landry, the first local owner in decades of the 55-year-old mall. The building has maintenance issues. Landry, who owns a construction business, in the days after closing on the deal
ä See NORTHGATE, page 5A
While Louisiana lawmakers debated auto insurance this spring during their legislative session, sky-high home insurance premiums continued to crush residents along the state’s coast. Homeowners insurance rates keep rising, forcing some residents out of their homes, while the state waits for the free market to look more favorably on Louisiana. So far, the approach has not led to lower rates for most homeowners in the state. Many saw their insurance premiums climb to unaffordable levels after a series of hurricanes in 2020 and 2021 upended the market. Home insurance rates rose by 16% in 2022 and by 14% in 2023, on average, according to data from the Louisiana Department of Insurance. A dozen insurers went belly up. Last year, homeowners insurance rates rose by 6.6%, on average. And so far this year, rates are up 1.2%. If the trend holds through the end of the year, it would be the smallest jump since 2018, according to state data. Not everyone is seeing relief. In May, an insurance group for teachers raised rates by an average of 14%, according to rate filing data. A month earlier, two insurers from another group raised rates by 12.5%. A handful of insurers cut rates by varying levels, from 2% to 11%. State lawmakers made a few attempts to scale back those increases by passing legislation this spring that strengthens incentives and grants for homeowners who
ä See INSURANCE, page 7A
Lawyer suing Big Oil is no tree hugger John Carmouche just won a $745M verdict against Chevron
against Chevron for damaging wetlands, is taking on Big Oil in Louisiana and winning. But he’s no tree hugger. Nor, he says, a headline-chasing trial lawyer. Through three governors’ adBY ALEX LUBBEN | Staff writer ministrations, he and his firm have navigated political headwinds John Carmouche isn’t who you to keep their lawsuits against oil companies alive. Carmouche has think he is. The Baton Rouge lawyer, who helped quash bills and candidajust won a $745 million verdict cies that would have threatened
WEATHER HIGH 88 LOW 75 PAGE 6B
his efforts. While his work seeks to make oil companies pay billions for damage they’ve done to the environment, he insists he wants the oil industry to thrive in Louisiana, as long as it doesn’t leave behind a mess. “I have a Democrat’s heart but I’m a Republican, because I understand business,” Carmouche
ä See CARMOUCHE, page 6A
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................3B Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
John Carmouche, right, speaks on recent litigation alongside his father and colleague, Donald Carmouche, on May 22 at their firm, Talbot, Carmouche & Marcello, in Baton Rouge. STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
100TH yEAR, NO. 364