GULFPORT (Bloomberg) — State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. said it may resolve hundreds of lawsuits from Mississippi policyholders whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.“We continue to talk and to search for ways to bring these events to a resolution,” said Phil Supple, a spokesman for Bloomington, Illinois-based State Farm, the largest home and auto insurer in the US. “At this point, we have no settlement.”

Homeowner attorney Richard Scruggs faces a March 30 deadline to file hundreds of individual cases after a judge rejected an attempt to file a single case on behalf of hundreds of clients. Scruggs couldn’t be reached for comment. His son and colleague, Zach Scruggs, declined to comment.

The August 2005 hurricane wiped out homes across the US Gulf Coast. Homeowners are suing their insurers for denying claims on the grounds that flooding damage wasn’t covered by their policies. Others said they weren’t paid enough.

Today, the New York Times, citing unnamed lawyers briefed on the talks, reported that State Farm was in the “final stages” of settling hundreds of lawsuits in Mississippi. Richard Scruggs is quoted as saying he hoped to have a settlement this week.

Some clients of Scruggs have begun settling cases against other insurers. Louis Guirola, a federal judge who sued Nationwide Co., settled in November for a confidential amount.

A unit of State Farm faces the first jury trial of a Katrina suit today in federal court in Gulfport, Mississippi. Norman and Genevieve Broussard, whose home was destroyed by the storm, will argue that when a house is entirely wiped off its slab, the insurance company has the burden of proving that flooding caused the destruction.

The Broussards, who aren’t represented by Scruggs, rejected an earlier settlement offer, according to court papers.

Richard Scruggs still has several other cases against State Farm, including that of his brother-in-law, Republican US Senator Trent Lott, whose home on the Mississippi coast was destroyed in the storm.

On December 28, Zach Scruggs said the increased cost and effort of filing individual cases wouldn’t be a deterrent.

“That will not affect how we prosecute these cases,” he said.