Day: June 11, 2008

State Farm backs off water, blows off wind – call it a Jaquith move

Here’s Anita Lee on top of another breaking insurance story – this one about State Farm’s decision to back off the water and blow off wind coverage, too.

State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. has decided not to renew property insurance policies for Coast residents who live within 1,000 feet of the Mississippi Sound.

Also, wind coverage will no longer be included in homeowner’s policies for existing customers who are 1,000 feet to 2,500 feet from the water.

State Farm would not confirm the decision Wednesday afternoon. Public officials informed of the news by Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney confirmed to the Sun Herald that the company was State Farm.

Moves like this are a reminder of the days when W.L. Jaquith ruled mental health in Mississippi. Any time Jake couldn’t get what he wanted at the Capitol, he’d start calling families to come pick up patients and boy would they ever kick up a fuss – and, if calls didn’t kick it up enough, he put a few on the bus.

This is Chaney’s biggest test yet; but, you’ve got to hand it to him, the man knows how Continue reading “State Farm backs off water, blows off wind – call it a Jaquith move”

Acker threatened Rigsby Qui Tam with “free legal advice” almost a year ago

…If this case [Renfroe v Rigsby] goes to trial on this schedule with no amendment and no counterclaim, which would cover that, and this[Qui Tam] case reaches a conclusion by dispositive order and is entered, it will preclude anything —

Now, that’s just my’ free legal advice, because I can’t control what another judge does in another case. But I can give you some free legal advice on both sides, that the first one of those cases that gets to trial and resolves the question of who did what to whom as between the Rigsbys and Renfroe — Now, let me add this dimension…

…I predict that unless you, not I, because I can’t — I’m not calling the judge down in Mississippi and begging for him to transfer something to me. But if he, whoever it is, that’s got that case down there, the qui tam case, manages it or mismanages it, whatever, by the time that case is over, this case will have already been over. And this case will control the outcome of the retaliation claim down there one way or the other.

Yep, the mad-as-a-hatter Judge Acker really said that – and here’s more of what he said during the Status Conference on Renfroe v Rigsby he held on August 29, 2007 Continue reading “Acker threatened Rigsby Qui Tam with “free legal advice” almost a year ago”

FEMA: Buttheads, Bureaucrats or Just Plain Ol’ Beavis?

The Sun Herald editorial board jumped into the freezer today taking exception to FEMAs decision to get out of the ice business in disaster areas.  FEMA watchers may remember the last great ice capade where Uncle Sam purchased tons of ice after Katrina, and had tons of ice left over. Rather than donating the extra ice to Ice Sculpture Arts Academy, FEMA instead stored it for two years so it could spoil. Luckily for us here on slabbed we did not get stuck with the entire utility bill for the cold storage. In any event rather than take further criticism over ice FEMA simply has left the ice delivery business. Here is today’s Sun Herald Op-ed.

South Mississippians are coming to a slow boil over FEMA’s attitude toward ice.

Things started warming up in early April when FEMA Director R. David Paulison said: “I don’t know how FEMA got into the ice business, but it’s not a life-saving commodity. People say they need it because they want it. They don’t need it. It’s not one of FEMA’s key jobs.” Continue reading “FEMA: Buttheads, Bureaucrats or Just Plain Ol’ Beavis?”

Misprision – What is a “reasonable” time?

Misprision is an old law; albeit, not as old as the one handed to Moses that influenced its original construction – the Commandment to honor our fathers and mothers – and a relatively young law in this country.

In 16th Century England, misprision was applied to treason – a crime treated differently in today’s United Kingdom – according to what I lightly call my alma mater, “the Wiki School of Law”.

With the development of the modern law, this crime has been discarded in most jurisdictions (it was abolished in England & Wales in 1967), and is generally only applied against persons placed in a special position of authority or responsibility. Continue reading “Misprision – What is a “reasonable” time?”