Mr Boyd You Were Weak and Therefore Deserved to be Taken Advantage of…..

Does Anita Lee read slabbed?  🙂  We discussed this issue at length here regarding the suit filed by Eldridge Boyd. Ms Lee has the report on the suit for the Sun Herald:

Policyholders who settled their Katrina claims through a state mediation program can’t sue their insurance company over the same property damage, a federal judge has ruled.

The settlement agreement is a binding contract that prevents policyholders from subsequently suing over the damage addressed, U.S. District Court Judge L.T. Senter Jr. has ruled.

Senter issued the opinion in the lawsuit Boyd v. State Farm.

Bay St. Louis resident Eldridge Boyd accepted a $23,000 wind damage payment from State Farm in July 2006 as a result of mediation sponsored by the Mississippi Insurance Department. Boyd and the insurance company signed an agreement releasing them from “any and all Katrina claims of any kind whatsoever against one another, except if the insured discovers additional insured damage that was not known to the parties prior to mediation…”

Senter found the language “could only refer to additional and unknown property damage covered by the plaintiff’s State Farm policy.”

Senter gave Boyd 14 days from the date of the order, on Aug. 6, to report additional property damage of at least $75,000, the threshold amount for a federal lawsuit. Otherwise, the lawsuit will be dismissed as requested by State Farm.

Boyd sued State Farm in June 2007, alleging the company conspired with adjusters and engineers to underpay wind claims. Boyd contended he was owed for additional damage because he knew nothing about the “conspiracy” when he went through mediation.

The lawsuit asked for full payment under the policy, plus punitive and other damages.

Fewer than five policyholders who reached settlements through mediation have cases pending in federal court, but hundreds participated in the process.