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Day: August 4, 2009
Judge Walker orders ANOTHER settlement conference in Politz v Nationwide
A “settlement conference” is somewhat a mystery to me. I read about them in scheduling orders and, when a case makes it to that point, I also read the docket entry:
At times I’ve seen a notice on a docket reminding both parties that each is to submit a settlement proposal to the court prior to the meeting. All of this led me to believe these conferences are very proper, formal meetings and nothing I’ve read has suggested more than one is scheduled by the court – or rather nothing I’ve read until last week:
What you see on the Politz docket for 7/28/09 is a TEXT ONLY ORDER issued by Judge Senter setting the Expedited Briefing Schedule Respectfully Requested by Counsel for Mrs. Politz with the Motion for Review of and Objection to the United States Magistrate Judge’s Order denying Mrs. Politz’s motion to designate her own mental health expert.
Counsel for Mrs. Politz also requested a hearing on the Motion; BUT, what you see in the three entries above Judge Senter’s Order is a Notice of Hearing Settlement Conference – and who’s idea was that? Judge Walker’s? Is this cartoon from Nowdy’s newest favorite, LawComix, a more accurate view of a settlement conference than the formal meeting I had in mind? Continue reading “Judge Walker orders ANOTHER settlement conference in Politz v Nationwide”
Confessions of a Former Insurance PR Executive Part 1: Big Insurance and the GOP Playbook
The industry has always tried to make Americans think that government-run systems are the worst thing that could possibly happen to them, that if you even consider that, you’re heading down on the slippery slope towards socialism. So they have used scare tactics for years and years and years, to keep that from happening………it could potentially reduce the profits of these big companies. So that is their biggest concern.
I sat spell bound reading the confessions of a former insurance PR executive who recently went on the air revealing all the dirty tricks of the trade.
A. That means that part of the effort to discredit this film was to use lobbyists and their own staff to go onto Capitol Hill and say, “Look, you don’t want to believe this……..You don’t want to talk about it. You don’t want to endorse it. And if you do, we can make things tough for you.”
Q: How?
A: By running ads, commercials in your home district when you’re running for reelection, not contributing to your campaigns again, or contributing to your competitor.
Q: This is fascinating. You know, “Build awareness among centrist Democratic policy organizations–”
A: Right.
Q: “–including the Democratic Leadership Council.”
A: Absolutely.
As we’ve repeatedly pointed out here on slabbed big insurance spreads the money around, mostly to the GOP but also to some key Democrats who are more than willing to do their bidding for some cold hard campaign ca$h.
Q: So you would actually hear politicians mouth the talking points that had been circulated by the industry to discredit…….
A: Absolutely.
Q: You’d hear ordinary people talking that. And politicians as well, right?
A: Absolutely.
Q: So your plan worked.
A: It worked beautifully. Continue reading “Confessions of a Former Insurance PR Executive Part 1: Big Insurance and the GOP Playbook”
David Treutel Talks Mississippi Coast Insurance Issues
Mississippi Wind Pool Board Member and Vice Chairman David Treutel was recently interviewed on WLOX. I didn’t learn much except Doug Walker parrots Ron Peresich real well. We’re all ears as to which plan Ron thinks has a chance up in DC.
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