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Insurance Law

Insurance Coverage Law Blog

Recent cases in insurance coverage matters, as well as industry developments and news.
By David Rossmiller

Post Frequency: 1.1/day

Last Entry: July 28, 2010 at 17:16:01

Scruggs Nation, Day 48: looking ahead, and looking way ahead

Posted on January 14, 2008
A common sentiment among many of the people I have communicated with in Mississippi is hope, hope that despite the embarrassment of the ongoing investigations and revelations, a new and better future awaits. I think this accounts for much of the vehemence that we are seeing as more allegations come to light -- a desire to storm the Bastille, and tear it down so that no stone is left standing on another...

Scruggs Nation, Day 47: story says Joey Langston pleads guilty

Posted on January 13, 2008
A story by Jerry Mitchell in this morning's Clarion Ledger says Joey Langston entered a guilty plea in federal court. Here's a link. As of the time I'm posting this it's early on the West Coast, I may have more to say about this later...

Scruggs Nation, Day 46: a new plea and confirmation of Langston's cooperation?

Posted on January 12, 2008
SECOND UPDATE: I have bumped this update to the top to make sure everyone sees it. I heard from Patsy Brumfield at the Daily Journal that there was an error when the story below was posted online and it is in the process of being changed. Apparently the reference to Tony Farese, as a commenter predicted, was a mistake and he was not the one who said Joey Langston is cooperating with authorities...

Renfroe v. Rigsby update

Posted on January 12, 2008
Though the Renfroe v. Rigsby case in Alabama has lost the spotlight to other legal developments, like a solid but B list actor on the red carpet at the Oscars when Tom Cruise steps out of his limo, it's worth mentioning that the case goes on and worth filling you in on some developments...

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Hood takes new oath of office, no mention of Scruggs but vows to fight fake contact lenses

Posted on January 12, 2008
I heard about this a couple days ago and just had to post on it. Newly elected or re-elected Mississippi state officials took their oaths of office on Thursday, and among these officials was AG Jim Hood.Although Hood was highly visible, outspoken and leading the charge against insurance companies post-Katrina, lately he has become what some refer to -- OK, what I refer to -- as the Prisoner of High Street (the location of his office)...

Article on Fifth Circuit Katrina litigation for Appleman Critical Issues/chapter in Appleman treatise

Posted on January 12, 2008
I really should have said more about this earlier, but time slips away. As I've mentioned in passing before, I'm writing the sequel to my article last fall in Appleman Critical Issues on anti-concurrent cause language in Katrina litigation...

News regarding Steve Patterson?

Posted on January 11, 2008
Lots of interest from readers in this story from the Daily Journal with hints as to what may be going on with Steve Patterson. Here's a copy of the documents the story mentions as being filed today -- Defendants' Reply to the government's response to the defendants' earlier motion to compel discovery, and the accompanying Exhibit A...

Scruggs Nation, Day 45: the reckoning

Posted on January 11, 2008
This thing in Mississippi is starting to rock around and bounce like a pressure cooker with no safety valve and the burner underneath turned up to flamethrower level. Feels like it's about ready to blow up and spray strawberry preserves and shrapnel all over the kitchen...

Scruggs Nation, Day 44: the swap meet

Posted on January 10, 2008
I haven't seen so many lawyers move around this fast since they evacuated my building last year because of a gas leak. Seems like everyone in the Scruggs case either wants someone else's lawyer or the lawyer wants someone else's client. Sounds like a writer's-strike Boston Legal script that didn't make the cut...

Judge questions whether it is proper for Scruggs to be represented by former counsel for co-defendant Patterson, denies motion for Farese to withdraw as counsel for Zach Scruggs

Posted on January 09, 2008
In what has developed into a sort of game show called "Who's My Attorney?", Judge Biggers has denied permission for attorney Tony Farese to withdraw as counsel for Zach Scruggs -- he was going to withdraw and reportedly represent Joey Langston...

Zach Scruggs' attorney files motion to withdraw

Posted on January 09, 2008
Zach Scruggs' attorney, Tony Farese, has filed a motion to withdraw as counsel in the Mississippi alleged bribery case. According to the motion, Zach Scruggs is going in a different direction with his legal representation and has terminated Farese's services...

Scruggs Nation, Day 43: the timeline

Posted on January 09, 2008
Yesterday in the Scruggs criminal case in Mississippi, the government filed its response to a December 28 defense motion to compel the government to provide certain evidence in discovery. That defense motion can be seen by clicking here, and we will get back to talking about it shortly...

Langston and his firm withdraw from representing Scruggs

Posted on January 08, 2008
It's been quite some time since Joey Langston has been active in the Scruggs bribery defense, but his firm was still involved, or at least had its name on the pleadings. No more. Here's a copy of the notice of withdrawal filed today for Langston and the Langston Law Firm...

Scruggs Nation, Day 42

Posted on January 08, 2008
Work and other responsibilities left very little time for blogging today -- not that I don't have relevant documents and other stuff to pass along, but I don't have time to do a proper post on them -- so for now just a few things:-- Rumors and reports, some of them highly specific and credible, of impending criminal justice developments continue to gain force...

Scruggs Nation, Day 41

Posted on January 07, 2008
Numerous readers have inquired what the Mississippi State Bar may be doing in relation to the Scruggs allegations. I inquired of Adam Kilgore, General Counsel of the Mississippi Bar, and he was good enough to respond on the record as follows:[B]ecause of the work we do in the Office of General Counsel (OGC), I am not at liberty to discuss specific cases until such time as the OGC takes action that is considered public...

Appearance on Paul Gallo radio show rescheduled

Posted on January 06, 2008
Due to other events going on in Mississippi that are more timely -- I think it has something to do with the maneuvering for Speaker of the House, something way outside my area of knowledge -- my appearance on Supertalk with Paul Gallo has been rescheduled...

Judge Acker rules on motions to recuse himself from Renfroe v. Rigsby, says no

Posted on January 04, 2008
Just caught wind of Judge Acker's decision tonight regarding motions filed by Dickie Scruggs and by the Rigsby sisters. They asked Acker to recuse himself from the Renfroe v. Rigsby civil case, in the Northern District of Alabama (along with all other judges in the district), on grounds of the perception of bias stemming from his referral of Scruggs to special prosecutors for alleged criminal contempt of court...

Appearance on the Paul Gallo Radio Show on Monday

Posted on January 04, 2008
MS Smitty reminds me in the comments to the previous post today that I forgot to mention I'll be interviewed on the Paul Gallo Radio Show on the Supertalk MS Network at 8:05 a.m. Monday morning on the Scruggs mess. I'm looking forward to it. For those of you across the state of Mississippi, and anywhere else you might care to listen to the program live streaming on the web, I hope you're able to catch it...

Scruggs Nation, March 31: the Scruggs is gone, long live the Scruggs?

Posted on January 01, 1970
'Esquire' magazineHoly Cow! What can the reasoning be behind this latest move by Dickie Scruggs, as reported by Anita Lee of the Sun Herald?Attorneys for Dickie Scruggs are asking the state Supreme Court to dismiss a Mississippi Bar complaint that calls for his disbarment as the result of his guilty plea on one charge of conspiring to bribe a north Mississippi judge...

Florida: insurance decisions keep getting stranger and stranger

Posted on December 31, 1969
I'm not sure what to think about Florida's possible decision to strip cash from the underfunded state-run insurer, as reported in the Miami Herald, and give it to start-up insurers that might blow away the first time a hurricane comes by. Well, yes I am sure -- the governing classes have lost their minds...

Scruggs Nation, April 2: Live from Mississippi!

Posted on December 31, 1969
A few preliminaries. A fun trip so far, a few glitches. My luggage didn't make the connection from Houston to Jackson, it finally caught up with me about midnight in Starkville. Everyone has been great, what a friendly place, wonderful people...

Scruggs Nation, April 3: on 'strike' against Scruggs

Posted on December 31, 1969
The Mississippi State Bar, as I've mentioned, has responded to Dickie Scruggs' Motion to Stick Around with this Response, which in essence says Scruggs' guilty plea acknowledges in writing that he is, in fact, guilty of the crime to which he pleaded, and therefore this makes him unfit to be a lawyer in Mississippi...

Florida appeals court upholds regulators' retaliatory suspension of Allstate's ability to write new policies

Posted on December 31, 1969
I'll comment more on this later, but wanted to get the decision up as soon as possible for you to review. Here it is.

Scruggs Nation, April 4: the beclownment grows

Posted on December 31, 1969
Just a brief post again today, came back to Portland to a lot to do. Did you see this story by Anita Lee in the Sun Herald this morning? In a move calculated to give Jim Hood a run for the record for public self-beclownment, Zach Scruggs, like his father, is also fighting disbarment...

Judge Senter disqualifies Katrina(less) Litigation Group, ousts Rigsby sisters as witnesses in Southern District of Mississippi

Posted on December 31, 1969
Citing ethical lapses including the payment of the Rigsby sisters as material witnesses, Judge L.T. Senter Jr. has disqualified the Katrina Litigation Group from remaining Katrina cases, and has also booted the sisters as witnesses from all cases in the Southern District of Mississippi...

April 4, Scruggs Nation Supplement: bar fight ends

Posted on December 31, 1969
Weird stuff. Dickie Scruggs has now said, in this filing, that he doesn't oppose the bar's motion to suspend him indefinitely, although he apparently does still oppose the original motion to disbar him before sentencing.

Scruggs Nation, April 5: the fall of the Scruggs Katrina Empire

Posted on December 31, 1969
Regarding yesterday's news of the disqualification from Katrina cases of the Katrina Litigation Group, the entity derived from the former Scruggs Katrina Group and containing three of the original five firms, what will happen now? It's hard to overstate how big a development in Katrina litigation this is...

October 2007 anti-concurrent cause article

Posted on December 31, 1969
Anti-concurrent cause language is one of my favorite areas of insurance coverage, one I will talk about at any time and one I have put a lot of work into mastering. It might be the kind of thing that annoys others, like someone who insists on playing the Pan flute for everyone because he has spent so much time practicing, but there you have it...

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