Still second highest car insurance rates in the country--

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High auto insurance rate states also tend to be ones with plaintiff-friendly court systems that yield higher settlements.

In Louisiana, judges are elected, personal injury lawyers advertise heavily on television and the sides of buses and the state has a direct-action law, allowing people to sue insurers directly.

"I think here, more than anywhere, it's a litigious society, even on these little fender benders," said Chris Paulin, who is vice president of Insurance Underwriters Ltd. in Metairie and president of the local chapter of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Louisiana.

The state's relatively poor population could also make people more inclined to sue or wring everything they can out of an insurance policy. About 12 percent of Louisiana motorists have no car insurance, and another 40 percent of Louisiana drivers have only the required minimum levels of coverage. That means that, taken together, half of the state's drivers are essentially saying through their insurance choices that they have no assets to protect. Meanwhile, about 19 percent of Louisianans have no health coverage, making them more likely to pursue an injury claim if they are in a wreck.

Indeed, according to the Insurance Research Council, Louisiana is different from other states in that people tend to make claims for bodily injuries even if those injuries are not that bad. "While the severity of the claims in Louisiana is not unusual -- in fact it's a little lower than the countrywide average -- Louisiana has the highest frequency of bodily injury claims," said David Corum, vice president of the Insurance Research Council.

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