Less than a month after Hurricane Katrina made landfall near the Louisiana-Mississippi state line, the first legal actions were taken on behalf of the storm's victims. In Mississippi, the state attorney general filed a complaint and a motion for a temporary restraining order against the insurance industry. In neighboring Louisiana, plaintiffs in a class action suit are seeking the right to recover insurance proceeds from their insurers for losses resulting from high water.

"All that the people have left is hope and I'm not going to allow an insurance company to wrongfully take that hope away," said Jim Hood, Mississippi's attorney general. "Although some insurance companies are trying to do the right thing, I won't allow the others to take advantage of people hurt by Hurricane Katrina."

Hood filed a civil action in the Chancery Court of Hinds County, Mississippi, First Judicial District. The complaint asks the court to declare that certain insurance contract provisions are void and unenforceable, as they "are contrary to public policy, are unconscionable, and are ambiguous." The provisions at issue exclude from coverage loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by water, whether or not driven by wind.