Day: August 28, 2009

Biggers gives Wilson’s wheel of fortune another spin – Recusal puts hot potato in rotation

Who was “It” when Wilson v Scruggs became a game of hot potato? US Attorney Jim Greenlee?

It is clear that the Plaintiffs’ have filed this Motion in an attempt to circumvent the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure regarding discovery. As a preliminary matter, Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(d)(l) prohibits a party from seeking discovery “from any source before the parties have conferred as required by Rule 26(f), except … when authorized by [the] rules, by stipulation, or by court order.”

Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(d)(I). The Rule 16.1 (A) Initial Order entered in this matter (Docket Number 53) reflects a Case Management Conference date of September 29, 2009, with an attorney conference of twenty-one (21) days prior. Because that Rule 26(t) Attorney Conference has not yet occurred, Plaintiffs are precluded from seeking discovery from any source at this juncture.

Not Greenlee.  The USA’s Special Appearance and Response to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preservation and Retention of Documents makes it clear the USA does not want to play.

Maybe the Scruggs Defendants?

The Scruggs Defendants further object to the production of these documents to Continue reading “Biggers gives Wilson’s wheel of fortune another spin – Recusal puts hot potato in rotation”

Ding Dong a Shill is Dead

Few men prostituted themselves before the money altar of big insurance more than Bill Bailey. Since it is not polite to speak ill of the recently departed I’ll leave it at that with a link to Sam Friedman’s blog where insurance shills can find respite from the reality of McKinsey and hosing homeless policyholders for profit.

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…the invisible hand controlling data – RECAP takes down another strawman

Government records, including court records, belong to the public.

NFIP records belong to the public, too, and in introducing RECAP, Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy demonstrates  the capacity of the insurance industry’s “invisible hand” in contrast to the self-imposed limited capacity of HHS – and down comes another strawman in a way judges can understand.

RECAP is an extension (or “add on”) for the Firefox web browser that…helps PACER users build a free and open repository of public court records. RECAP users automatically donate the documents they purchase from PACER into a public repository hosted by the Internet Archive. And RECAP saves users money by alerting them when a document they are searching for is already available from this repository. RECAP also makes other enhancements to the PACER experience, including more user-friendly file names.

Government Data and the Invisible Hand explains the technical infrastructures widely used in the private sector in contrast to the end-user focus of the government.

Read the Invisible Hand and you’ll understand the scheme – the best place to hide a needle is in a haystack of needles.

Over the weekend, SLABBED will take on the strawman of the Haag Report and the notion McIntosh was the only claim in the Rigsby’s qui tam specific to the allegations of fraud in State Farm’s handling of NFIP claims.

Check out RECAP, donate if you are a PACER user – and enjoy this last weekend of summer.

Friday Music: Life imitating art imitating life

One by one the straw men, so carefully constructed, come tumbling down. Simple politics Sid, alway was, always will be……

So who will be first? Which account will be accurate? Watching from afar having fully debriefed several on the inside all I can say is what’s coming has some “fun” potential. Nowdy maybe we should write a book.  😉

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyKvD-4IxOY]

Gene Taylor on Protecting Coastal Homeowners

Protecting Homeowners the Right Course of Action

By Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.)

Four years after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Mississippi Gulf Coast, rebuilding homes and communities continues at a snail’s pace. The protection we thought was there to ensure our speedy recovery is the obstacle that stands in our way: homeowner insurance—both its cost and its payment, or the lack thereof.

Skyrocketing cost of homeowner protection

Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s three counties—Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson, the residential real estate market demonstrates the ripple effect this insurance crisis is having in our economy and recovery. One large coastal real estate firm recently informed my office that the number of residential contracts that fall through at closing has risen dramatically. Before Katrina, the number was less than 10%. Today, that number has more than tripled to nearly 1/3 of all contracts. The reason? The skyrocketing cost of homeowner’s insurance.

When the bank includes the exorbitant insurance premiums into the debt-ratio equation for the mortgage loan, an increasing number of prospective buyers no longer qualify for the loan. This is so prevalent that coastal realtors are advising potential buyers to shop for insurance before they begin to look for a home.

Commercial insurance rates have also soared for small business owners. In 2007, the Hancock County Chamber of Commerce reported that its members had seen an average increase in premiums of 346 percent with the range between 300 to nearly 670 percent.
 

Continue reading “Gene Taylor on Protecting Coastal Homeowners”