Day: August 16, 2009

We will not now allow defendant to raise as a defense plaintiff’s failure to perform an act which defendant itself greatly hindered plaintiff from performing

Admittedly, I can’t hold my own with the comments here and here on SLABBED this morning; but, I’ve read about  plaintiffs that were hindered from performing the act and just plain f%*&@#.

I’ll also admit that I lifted the title from a line in Merlin’s new post and that Fowler v State Farm provided my introduction to the hindered act:

In the simplest terms, State Farm cannot refuse to pay the funds due and owing under the policy, then insist that Plaintiffs rebuild before they are entitled to sue for recovery of the replacement costs.

Most gulf coast residents simply do not have the financial resources to rebuild an entire home to completion without the benefit of the insurance benefits due from their homeowner’s insurer. State Farm could greatly reduce its exposure following hurricanes by simply denying coverage, then insisting that the maximum recovery is the actual caSh value Wlder the policy – normally significantly less than replacement costs – simply because the homeowner hasn’t completed rebuilding the home, which they simply can’t afford to do without the insurance proceeds State Farm withholds.

Homeowners are not required to do such a vain and useless thing; they aren’t Continue reading “We will not now allow defendant to raise as a defense plaintiff’s failure to perform an act which defendant itself greatly hindered plaintiff from performing”

Sunday Music Editilla Edition: In Memory of Jim Dickinson

I’ll never forget some of those early evenings after Katrina as we gathered around the fire at the shack with Bob-O and his guitar…….

Editilla at the Ladder, a musical talent in his own right that we can’t wait to hear live, has all the skinny including his personal experiences with Jim Dickinson:

~Our hearts go out to Mrs Mary Lindsey, Luther, and Cody
–and all close to the Dickinson family who knew and loved Jim.
I first met Jim Dickinson when I warmed up for his band Mudboy and the Neutrons in Memphis in ’81 or ’82. Over the years we would congrooviate occasionally and, though we weren’t close, he always left me feeling like a musician and a friend.
With Lee Baker and Fury Lewis, Dickinson influenced my own musical development deeply and unmistakably, as if I can still smell the bogue in which I learned to swim.
With age he just got better and better and nicer and nicer.
I already sorely miss this man and will never forget him.
“Fuck it, its only music,” said the funniest musician I’ve ever met.
This is where I grew up, where I come from…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9zkX-vQ7IY]

Still kissing babies – Sun Herald reports on the post-Senate life of Trent Lott as father, grandfather and lobbyist

I have been watching Sul Ozerden practically all his life. I knew his dad and mother going back to the 1970s. I was always impressed with him and his family, same thing with Louis Guirola. … I am sad about Judge DeLaughter… I hope that is behind us so we can move on now.

There were always two Trent Lotts – one, the Senator who took care of his people; the other Tricia’s husband who cared deeply for his family.  Perhaps that’s why the Sunday Sun Herald reports on his post-Senate life in two stories: Life’s busy for Lott… and Lott talks scandal… (another h/t to Steve for the second link)

Shields Armstrong with her grandfather Trent Lott, Christmas 2002 photo courtesy Sun Herald
Shields Armstrong with her grandfather Trent Lott, Christmas 2002 photo courtesy Sun Herald

Hurricane Katrina was a defining event in Lott’s career, one that gave him his finest moment – and thereafter there were no longer two Trent Lotts but one.

…Hurricane Katrina came, and Lott was back in the spotlight. He lost his Pascagoula home to the storm and was suing his insurance company and at the same time working alongside Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, known as “The Quiet Persuader,” to secure billions in federal funds for South Mississippi’s recovery.

The Lotts’ beachfront home in Pascagoula, which the former senator called his “nest egg” hasn’t been rebuilt. Lott says when he’s on the Coast, he is able to stay with relatives. He and his wife Tricia — who had expressed some concerns about rebuilding on the water at the time Lott retired — now have a country home a few miles outside Jackson. Lott said they were buying the property before Katrina, so they used flood insurance money to spruce it up.

His current lifestyle allows for more time with family, which the 67-year-old Lott said he relishes. He intends to stay retired from politics. Continue reading “Still kissing babies – Sun Herald reports on the post-Senate life of Trent Lott as father, grandfather and lobbyist”

Taylor’s Town Hall meeting to showcase “party manners”

Coast residents are planning to show their “party manners” at Congressman Taylor’s upcoming Town Hall meeting, according to this Sun Herald story.

White gloves are not required – but kid gloves may be needed,  Frankly, I doubt Gene if-there-was-a-hell-no-button-I’d-push-it Taylor has a pair of either:

South Mississippi Democrats plan to show solidarity and support for U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor at his town hall meeting Monday night, when the congressman is likely to face tough questioning from conservatives in a movement that has pressed officials at gatherings across the country this month.

Conservative Web sites are directing people to attend their representatives’ meetings to grill them about President Barack Obama’s health care plans, the economy and other issues.

Those planning to show up with the local “We Surround Them/912 Project” may have second thoughts and decide to grill their leader instead. Continue reading “Taylor’s Town Hall meeting to showcase “party manners””