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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 Lite, update May 29

Posted on May 29, 2008
Some of the things that have been going on in the Scruggs Nation that past few weeks, not all of which I have had time to touch on yet. -- A story from Anita Lee of the Sun Herald: E.A. Renfroe is asking for the dismissal of Ex rel...

Scruggs Nation, May 27

Posted on May 27, 2008
I know, I know, citizens of the Scruggs Nation, I know. You will see this post and be stricken with nostalgia for the days of the 20,000-word Scruggs Nation posts, the ones that took me five hours to write, the days when the feds were rattling, the Scruggs was battling and Dickie's friends were skedaddling...

Memorial Day 2008

Posted on May 25, 2008
I wrote the post below two years ago for Memorial Day as a tribute to my Dad, who served as a soldier during World War II. This is the third straight year for this post, and I'll continue to run it every year. I've thought of his service often, and have read many books about war and military history to try to understand what he did, what he went through, and also who he was...

Renfroe seeks inquiry into whether new Katrina counsel associated with Scruggs, KLG

Posted on May 23, 2008
The Disqualification Wars continue. First, after an initially unsuccessful effort by State Farm late last year to disqualify Dickie Scruggs from Katrina litigation on ethics grounds, Scruggs in essence disqualified himself on, uh, ethics grounds...

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Landry Valued Policy Law: Louisiana Supreme Court rules for Citizens Property

Posted on May 22, 2008
I heard about the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision in Landry vs. Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. yesterday morning, but had no time at all to do a post. Got too busy even to do an emergency post linking to the decision...

MIssissippi Supreme Court agrees to hear anti-concurrent cause case

Posted on May 21, 2008
A huge development: the Mississippi Supreme Court has agreed to hear the interlocutory appeal of Corban v. USAA, which I have written about here. Being as this case is about anti-concurrent cause, my favorite subject next to Scruggs and the Trailer Lawyers, I wish I had more time to write about this, but I don't...

The Day the Music Died: Trailer Lawyers disqualified from False Claims Act case

Posted on May 20, 2008
It is with much sadness I report that the Trailer Lawyers -- Trailer Chip and Trailer Tony, Trailer Todd and Trailer Mary -- have been disqualified from Ex rel. Rigsby, the False Claims Act case often known by the incredibly ugly phrase "the Qui Tam," which of course is Latin for "Trailer Lawyer...

Update on McIntosh v. State Farm case, May 19

Posted on May 19, 2008
I've got a lot of catching up to do, but thanks to all those who e-mailed ideas for posts. I'll work my way through those as time allows, but for now, let's look at Magistrate Judge Robert Walker's rulings on Friday in the Verdun-like battle of McIntosh v...

Blogging schedule, May 19

Posted on May 19, 2008
Time continues to be extremely limited, and blogging has been impossible. However, if politics is the art of the possible, blogging is the art of the impossible. I'll see if I can sneak a post in later this morning.

Renfroe v. Rigsby update, May 14

Posted on May 14, 2008
Time continues to be extraordinarily limited. Thanks to readers for pointing out the article in the New Yorker on Dickie Scruggs. I was called by one of the fact checkers for the magazine about the story, although I didn't have time to return the call before the story closed...

Katrina litigation update/Trailer Lawyer update, May 13

Posted on May 13, 2008
This recent Anita Lee story in the Sun Herald tells how hundreds of former clients of the disqualified Katrina(less) Litigation Group have migrated, at the suggestion of KLG lawyer Don Barrett, to the Texas tobacco litigation firm Umphrey-Provost...

Scruggs Nation, May 12

Posted on May 12, 2008
The sun never sets on the Scruggs Nation. Sometimes it is eclipsed, true, but it never sets. Dickie Scruggs, after a long absence, is back in the news. This Clarion-Ledger story says the Justice Department is looking into bringing racketeering charges against The Scruggs...

State Farm reaches settlements with policyholders formerly represented by disqualified lawyers

Posted on May 09, 2008
Thanks to Marjory Morford, Dunn Carney's marketing director, for sending me the link to this story by Mike Kunzelman of the Associated Press. (Marjory frequently helps me with this blog -- for example, on days where I'm too busy to review and publish comments, she does it...

California Court of Appeals: no guaranteed replacement cost means homeowner is solely responsible for adequate insurance

Posted on May 08, 2008
California wildfires have provided some interesting battles between policyholders and insurers, chiefly over whether the insurer or the homeowner is responsible for the home being underinsured when it was destroyed. I wrote about a Bloomberg piece on that subject in this post last year...

Update on McIntosh v. State Farm case, May 7

Posted on May 07, 2008
The effort to find lawyers for the McIntoshes, plaintiffs against State Farm in one of the signature and most bitterly fought Katrina cases, continues to run into snags. You may remember Judge Senter's order of April 15 in which he clarified that his earlier disqualification order pertaining to the Scruggs(less) Katrina Group, aka the Katrina(less) Litigation Group, is broad and pertains to any law firm associated with the SKG-KLG...

New article on plain English requirements for insurance policies

Posted on May 06, 2008
This is a relatively small article I wrote for the OADC magazine, the Oregon Association of Defense Counsel. I'm not actually a member of that organization, but one of my partners is on the Board of Directors, so I like to help out when I can...

Federal regulation of insurance, etc.

Posted on May 05, 2008
I've had a number of stories by Becky Mowbray of the New Orleans Times-Picayune sitting around in my feedreader waiting for me to find time to comment. Between the day job and the Trailer Lawyers, it's been difficult, but I can sneak some of them in here...

Trailer Lawyers demand sanctions for 'scurrilous' allegations relating to Rigsby Trailer Summit

Posted on May 02, 2008
A good way to finish out the week -- once again it's Trailer Time, where we catch up on another episode of the Trailer Lawyer News, with that beloved and familiar cast of characters: the Rigsby Sisters, Dickie Scruggs, Trailer Todd, Trailer Tony, Trailer Chip and Trailer Mary, and of course, Snake Farm...

May 1 potpourri

Posted on May 01, 2008
Again, time is very limited today, so this will have to suffice.-- I saw this story in the Insurance Journal that, following the Fifth Circuit's opinion in Broussard v. State Farm, the case has settled, so there won't be any new trial. -- This item from the Las Vegas Sun on a sudden increase in interest following an earthquake in Utah is interesting: Fuller said most people usually don't buy earthquake insurance because of its cost, the belief that an earthquake won't happen in Utah or that the federal government would help in an emergency...

Blogging forecast, April 30: extremely light posting

Posted on April 30, 2008
Time is extraordinarily short today for posts of any kind -- just a heads up in case you were looking for a new one. Probably not going to happen.

Trailer Lawyer News, April 29:

Posted on April 29, 2008
The Trailer Lawyers have been promising a devastating response to State Farm's motion to disqualify them in the False Claims Act case, Ex rel. Rigsby. They filed two briefs yesterday in opposition, one by Chip Robertson's firm, loaded with euphemisms and which studiously avoids the word "trailer," and another by Todd Graves' firm...

Appleman Critical Issues article, more anti-concurrent analysis and theory, exploration of the philosophical underpinnings of ambiguity

Posted on April 28, 2008
I've said it was coming Monday, and when I make a promise, I aim to keep it. Even though as I write it is once again into the wee hours, due to day job responsibilities. Good Lord, I miss seeing my family. Here is a copy of the article as it appeared recently...

Sun Herald story on Rigsby sisters

Posted on April 28, 2008
Lots of e-mails from readers yesterday about this story by Anita Lee in the Sun Herald on Kerri and Cori Rigsby. The story is headlined "Under Pressure," which means we better cue up the You Tube video of the David Bowie song of the same name...

When is rogue employee conduct covered? Course and scope of employment decisions

Posted on April 25, 2008
Reading cases about insurance coverage for employee bad conduct is sometimes difficult -- not just the legal part of it, the facts are often pretty disturbing. I mean, some of these folks? We're talking major league weirdos. After I read some of these cases, I feel like going to wash my hands -- or not, considering they are often about some wacko using bathroom surveillance equipment...

Trailer Lawyers v. Snake Farm: battle of the theme songs

Posted on April 24, 2008
I've nominated this song as the official theme music for Trailer Lawyer posts. A reader nominated this terrific song as the anti-Snake Farm, pro-Trailer Lawyer anthem. There were other good suggestions from readers for theme music in the comments to this post, and more are welcome...

New anti-concurrent article coming Monday April 28

Posted on April 24, 2008
Posting will be light, probably, for the next few days due to extreme day job demands. I do want to mention, however, that I will be posting on Monday, April 28 the text of my new article on anti-concurrent cause and Fifth Circuit Katrina cases, being published this week in New Appleman on Insurance: Current Critical Issues in Insurance Law...

Trailer Lawyer News, April 23: the 'Snake Farm' edition

Posted on April 23, 2008
You know the old saying -- if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the trailer. This story by Dan Margolies in today's Kansas City Star features angry denunciations by Chip Robertson and Todd Graves, suspected Trailer Lawyers, of State Farm:“There’s a reason people call them ‘Snake Farm,’ ” Robertson said Monday...

Sanctions sought against Scruggs in Wilson case

Posted on April 23, 2008
Better do a quick post this morning on this Anita Lee story in the Sun Herald on a motion for sanctions against Dickie Scruggs in the Wilson fee dispute case, the one in which Joey Langston pleaded guilty to trying to influence a judge. This paragraph seems explosive:[Wilson attorney Vicki] Slater said she learned how the conspirators communicated...

Is this what Judge Senter had in mind?

Posted on April 22, 2008
When Judge Senter issued his order disqualifying the Katrina(less) Litigation Group, was this letter from Don Barrett on behalf of the KLG what he had in mind? Where the Katrina Litigation Group handpicks a successor and sends clients a contract to sign up with that firm? Here's the key part of Judge Senter's order:The payments made to the Rigsby sisters require the disqualification of the successors to the SKG and those whom they have added as associates from further participation in any litigation in this Court against State Farm and Renfroe arising from property damage attributable to Hurricane Katrina...

McIntosh case: fraud claim dismissed

Posted on April 22, 2008
The McIntosh v. State Farm, easily the most contentious of the State Farm Katrina cases, has long been dark and bloody ground where lawyers clashed by night. This is the case where Kerri Rigsby herself approved the flood payment, then turned around and accused State Farm of overpaying flood damage with government money to minimize the company's liability for wind...

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