Day: April 23, 2008

Earwigging & Blawgs: Katrina’s Surge Fuels the Quest for Money at the Expense of Ethics

Steve dropped by slabbed last night with a particularly insightful comment on the ethical implications of the footnote found in the rebuttal memo submitted by Graves Bartle & Marcus and Bartimus Fricltleton Robertson & Gorny, the law firms that represent the insurance whistle blowers Cori and Kerri Rigsby in their False Claims Act fight against State Farm.

I would note that although it would be hard to prove in some cases one notable blogger with a day job has asserted the use of company bloggs (sic) for the purposes of generating business for the firm. Would that make blogging akin to advertising? If so what rules do lawyers have in relation to their blogs? Has anyone already crossed the line of ethics? This would probably be a new area for the legal profession to examine but one which will have to be dealt with by the profession. Perhaps the legacy of Rossmiller and NMC will be the development of internet blogging guidelines for the profession. Is it indeed advertising for new clients like Rossmiller asserts or is it something else?

Then Bellesouth stopped by today with a comment that included an excerpt of a news article that appeared today in the student newspaper the Daily Mississippian made by Judge Mills in yesterday’s ethic’s panel held yesterday at Ole Miss on the topic of ex parte communications. More on that in a bit.

That reminded me of some old links I had saved on David Rossmiller, moderator of the Insurance Coverage blog. Continue reading “Earwigging & Blawgs: Katrina’s Surge Fuels the Quest for Money at the Expense of Ethics”

The Insurance Crisis Comes to Pennsylvania and New Jersey

My thanks to a slabbed reader living in the Northeast for the heads up to this Press of Atlantic City story which appeared online Monday. The insurance crisis that began in 2004/2005 is leaving no one behind from Brownsville Texas to Bar Harbor Maine. The Good Neighbor again takes the PR hit.

For us here in Mississippi the head buried in the sand, we serve insurers attitude exhibited by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance is very reminiscent of our own George Dale from not that long ago.  Our advice at slabbed is to hold the politicians accountable – you should not have to beg to have a public body hear citizen complaints. Without further commentary on my part here is the article and welcome to the coastal insurance party guys.

If you call a State Farm Insurance Company agent in Ventnor after office hours, you get a tape-recorded message saying, “Like a good neighbor, we are there for you 24/7.”

Don’t try and sell the “good neighbor” bit to Mary Nugent, of Pennsylvania, who has a home in Longport. Continue reading “The Insurance Crisis Comes to Pennsylvania and New Jersey”