Serving clients in the Gulf Coast region, Nielsen & Treas LLC focuses on constitutional, statutory, and insurance cases. Nielsen & Treas LLC’s insurance practice centers in part on insurance defense.Insurance defense attorneys perform a number of professional roles. Some defense attorneys serve with law firms retained by insurance companies or as in-house lawyers hired by insurance companies. Some defense attorneys' role is to evaluate insurance claims for their validity and legality and advise insurance companies on these points. Sometimes, people file insurance claims for accidents that are not covered under their policies or claim compensation for injuries that were not suffered. Insurance defense attorneys advise insurers against paying false claims. Where invalid claims are not paid and the policyholder files suit, insurance defense attorneys defend the insurance company in court. Sometimes, insurance defense attorneys even defend policyholders against third party claims. For example, in a case of automobile insurance where a third party claims that a policyholder caused an accident, insurance defense counsel may represent the defendant policyholder so that the insurance company that has retained them limits the size of the settlement. Finally, insurance defense attorneys help insurance companies comply with regulations. They advise on policy coverage and business practices. They also offer guidance on compliance when state laws change or when insurers do business in states with different insurance regulations.
A law firm based in Metairie, Louisiana, Nielsen & Treas, LLC, has represented clients in insurance, civil, and constitutional matters for the past 30 years. The attorneys at Nielsen & Treas, LLC, maintain a commitment to supporting charitable organizations, including the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.In its work to cure childhood cancer, St. Jude has teamed up with Washington University in St. Louis on the St. Jude-Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project. Hailed as one of the most ambitious efforts to date in charting new paths to a cure, the project is tasked with comparing the DNA from cancerous and normal cells in over 800 patients.This painstaking process helps researchers isolate the genetic factors that contribute to the most aggressive pediatric cancers. To further the field of cancer research, the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project is publishing all of its raw sequencing results, as well as data analysis and visualization tools, for free use by other cancer-research organizations.
Dedicated to the highest of standards, Nielsen & Treas, LLC, has provided legal services in constitutional, insurance, statutory, and regulatory issues for more than three decades. Nielsen & Treas, LLC, donates to several organizations, including the Boys Scouts of America. In June 2018, Nielsen & Treas presented summer camp scholarships to two members of Madisonville’s Boy Scout Troop 221. The scholarships covered expenses for the boys to attend Camp Rainey Mountain, a Boy Scout camp located near Clayton, Georgia. Campy Rainy Mountain is spread across nearly 500 aces in the Georgia Mountains at Lake Toccoa. The camp features a large dining hall, a stone amphitheater, a trading post, full waterfront activities, and STEM centers. The campsite is bordered on three sides by the Chattahoochee National Forest. The scouts will stay at one of 25 campsites and participate in a wide variety of events, including archery, hiking, and rappelling. Over the course of their stay, scouts will partake in ceremonies at the Flag Plaza and Parade Field and receive instruction on topics of interest at the uniquely designed Nature Lodge. In addition, scouts can earn STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) merit badges at the onsite technology center. Camp Rainey Mountain offers summer camps June through August.
Upholding the highest standards within courts of law, Nielsen & Treas, LLC, is based in the Gulf Coast region and regularly represents cases that require navigating the National Flood Insurance Program. Among the successfully represented cases of Nielsen & Treas, LLC was Spong v. Fidelity National Property and Casualty Co., a U.S. Fifth Circuit appellate ruling that affirmed a previous district court ruling.The plaintiffs in the case had a Galveston, Texas, vacation residence that was destroyed in 2008 by Hurricane Ike. When a proof-of-loss claim was submitted to Fidelity, the flood insurance company found that the home’s location made the policy "void" because the property was located in a Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS). With the Federal Tort Claims Act and state law in play, a case was filed against the Government and Fidelity that claimed alleged misrepresentations on the part of the insurance company and the Government. These resulted in “detrimental reliance” by the Spongs when purchasing the insurance coverage.Nielsen & Treas argued that the Spongs' claims of alleged misrepresentations and detrimental reliance fail as a matter of law. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Spong Court followed a similar case of Lobeck v. Fidelity, and held that plaintiffs cannot rely on any alleged misrepresentations as those who deal with the Government are expected to know the law and may not rely on the conduct of Government agents contrary to law citing the U.S. Supreme Court cases of Heckler and Merrill. Therefore, the Spongs were charged with knowledge that their property was located in a CBRS. In addition, the Spongs did not take action for two years after receiving a Fidelity denial letter and the claims were determined by district court to be untimely and without subject-matter jurisdiction as to the Government. This led to a dismissal of the case that was subsequently affirmed by the appellate court.
