Day: February 3, 2008

Since Lotus at Folo brought this report that aired on WLBT to my attention, I filed it away for further commentary, not only for its glaring factual inaccuracy (EA Renfroe is a claims adjusting firm not engineers), but also because of the sheer silliness of the logic used to frame the Rigsby sisters as document purloining perverts. I had to chuckle thinking of the State Farm commercial which no doubt aired at some point during the broadcast, informing us the good neighbor stands ready to sell us life and auto insurance; contracts that people such as Dr Leroy McFarland discovered post Katrina really were not worth the paper they were written on.

I filed Ms Thompson’s revealing report away as I was vetting the first Reuters story on the GAO report past some ordinary people off the coast to gauge their reactions to it and the context which it was framed. This is the paragraph that repeatedly came up in the feedback I received.

Study after study has come back with the same results, showing there is no evidence insurance companies improperly attributed wind damage from Hurricane Katrina to water,” said Justin Roth, senior federal affairs director at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, an industry group.

“We fully expect this report to reach the same conclusion,” Roth said

Mr Roth’s artful wordsmithing must be appreciated in PR circles for its sheer intellectual dishonesty as is Mr Drawbaugh’s apparent willingness to serve as a mouthpiece instead of his stated vocation of reporter in the finest traditions of misinformation that would make Dr. Goebbels proud.

So how could Mr Roth be so confident in his statement, issued one day before the GAO report was released? Easy, the Three Wise Monkeys work for FEMA, and Mr Roth knew FEMA did not collect wind damage payment data in flood claims thus they had no way of knowing if NFIP was improperly charged for wind damage. This is what the GAO had to say on that exact subject:

FEMA officials stated that they did not have the authority to collect wind damage claims data from insurers. But without the ability to examine claims adjustment information for both the wind and flood damages, NFIP cannot always determine the extent to which each peril contributed to total property damages and the accuracy of the claims paid for losses caused by flooding.

FEMA cannot be certain whether NFIP has paid only for damage caused by flooding when insurers with a financial interest in apportioning damages between wind and flooding are responsible for making such apportionments.

However, when the public adjusters in Louisiana peeked under the hood of flood claim adjusting in New Orleans, they found a far different story than was conveyed by Roth and Drawbaugh:

“….a group of former insurance adjusters, identified only as the Georgia company Branch Consultants LLC, say they have reinspected 150 properties with flood and wind damage. In all cases, private insurance companies overcharged the federal flood program for storm damage while they underestimated wind damage.

“Every single one of them,” said Allan Kanner, a New Orleans attorney representing the insurance and construction experts as they pursue what they say is a violation of the False Claims Act on behalf of the federal government. “There’s a pattern here.”

In one striking example, the suit claims that a group of four-plex apartments in eastern New Orleans were compensated for flood damage with taxpayer money even though they experienced no flooding. Each building in same complex was paid only a pittance for severe wind damage on its regular property insurance policies.”

WLBT Jackson Joins in the Drive By Reporting Craze

In their anchor captioned report “Sex, Lies and Theft” WLBT tries their hand at character assassination. The story teller, Marsha Thompson, dutifully informs her viewers of Kerri Rigsby’s sex life and that the Rigby’s were “Stealing documents without State Farm’s knowledge or permission and then furnished copies to the Attorney general, US Attorney and Scruggs without permission.”

Following Ms. Thompson’s logic the Rigsby sisters, who publicly stated they believed they have witnessed crimes known in some legal circles as Racketeering, should have asked permission before calling the authorities. Following the Thompson logic means we should also obtain the permission of an armed robber before calling in a bank robbery. Thompson logic also evidently means the sex lives of witnesses to a crime are fair game too.

Is it any wonder around 26% of the public finds local TV news “believable” or that so few white collar crime witnesses are willing to come forward as whistleblowers. WLBT should hang their head in shame.

Fade out to the “Good neighbor” ad…..

sop