Day: June 7, 2009

State Farm plays video game at Rigsby qui tam hearing

Sop’s post on  Andrew McDonald’s video of Katrina in action brought to mind the video game State Farm played at the recent Rigsby qui tam hearing.

Prior to the hearing, both parties filed a Notice listing potential exhibits. You may recall State Farm filed objections to every item on the list submitted by the Rigsby sisters.  In turn, the Rigsbys’ counsel did not object to a single item listed in State Farm’s Notice or that some items were available only on a buy-your-own basis. 

D-28 “Kevin Abraham” Video (copyrighted, Rigsbys must therefore purchase their own copy)

It could be the Rigsbys didn’t object because they were stunned.  I certainly was – particularly after realizing it had no relevance to the McIntosh claim or any of the others shown on the map of State Farm’s video game.

videos

Judge Senter probably was more shocked than stunned by State Farm’s intent to play the video game in the Rigsby qui tam case  given the related orders he has issued  such as this one dated June 27, 2007 in Eleutis v State Farm

Between the filing of the current motion on June 6, 2007, and the final pretrial conference held on June 18, Defendant  responded that it filed (in the same time frame) supplemental expert reports which now include reference to a PowerPoint presentation to be used as demonstrative evidence… Defendant maintains that such evidence will be used to “demonstrate the analysis and conclusions of the reports of [its experts] . . . .” Defendant also believes that this “supplement” should provide the Plaintiff ample opportunity in advance of trial to offer “any argument in response to the information contained in the PowerPoint.” Trial will be held on July 16…

Defendant will not be allowed to introduce “demonstrative evidence” Continue reading “State Farm plays video game at Rigsby qui tam hearing”

Slabbed Daily Weekend Edition: June 6/7. Catching up on insurance news.

I finished my first radio appearance a few minutes ago and thought the show went very well. Kevin Buckel was kind enough to call in explaining his public records lawsuit against the Commish as we covered a variety of insurance related topics from appraisal to the actual cost to insure a home here in the GO Zone. Now here is a months plus worth of insurance news with more to come. (H/t to Editilla and Alan Lange)

First up we have a trio of somewhat conflicting articles out of the Louisiana insurance market, which the Wall Street Journal editorial board held up as a stellar example of a well working state insurance market, while not mentioning Louisiana has some of the highest homeowner insurance rates in the country. I’ll start with the “good” news that Louisiana Citizens rates are dropping in Orleans Parish per the Times Picayune which cites “increased competition” as the reason:

As of May 1, homeowners policies in Orleans Parish will reflect a 9 percent decrease. The stripped down “dwelling” policies, which don’t include liability coverage, dropped 22 percent, said John Wortman, chief executive of the state-sponsored insurer of last resort.

“This is because the market rates have gone down and we follow the market place,” Wortman said.

Statewide, however, the average rate climbed 7 percent and homeowners rates also rose in St. Tammany and Jefferson parishes as well.

By law, Citizens must set its prices to match that of the most expensive insurer in each parish. Continue reading “Slabbed Daily Weekend Edition: June 6/7. Catching up on insurance news.”