The Scruggses have filed a motion to strike asking the court to immediately and permanently strike the arguments and exhibits that were raised for the first time in State Farm’s Second Reply Brief in support of its Motions to Compel.
Before going any further, I want to explain how this motion relates to my remarks about the use of psychological defense mechanisms in the Reply filed by State Farm – the monster that hit Pacer last Friday.
What we’re dealing with is a corporate bully – functioning like a man who beats his wife and says it’s her fault for making him mad. Bullies have victims. I’ll attempt to explain how that victim can be justice after this section of text from the motion showing the bully in action.
Clearly, State Farm did not enter Exhibit “C” or its other newly-submitted documents because they were necessary to its arguments in support of its original Motions to Compel. If these documents were truly relevant to State Farm’s Motions, they should have been attached as exhibits to the Motions themselves.
Moreover, State Farm makes only two references to the documents in its Second Reply Brief, one of which is a string “citation” to nearly 3,000 pages of documents for the broad and generalized proposition that Zach Scruggs had e-mail contact with certain media representatives.
The attachment of these documents, and their continued presence on the Court’s docket, thus prejudices the Scruggses, serves no permissible purpose, and constitutes an abuse of the Court’s resources and the electronic filing system.
I contend that in these Katrina cases, the immediate victim may have been Zach, Dick, one of the Rigsby sisters, or even disqualified counsel; however, the ultimate victim has been justice. Continue reading “Scruggses file motion to strike arguments and exhibits in State Farm's reply”