Day: February 9, 2010

We have snow in the forecast in South Mississippi

I tell you what Nowdy, we’ll certainly link the Sun Herald’s weather forecasts more often if they keep the creative writing mixed in:

The National Weather Service is predicting possible snowfall in South Mississippi on Thursday and into Friday morning, furthering the prediction that the weather would change if the Saints won the Super Bowl.

A surface low is expected to develop in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday. As moisture increases across the area late Thursday morning and into the afternoon hours, a mix of sleet and snow will begin to fall across South Mississippi and southeast Louisiana, mainly north of Interstate 12.

A few areas as far south as Donaldsonville, La., and LaPlace, La., may see sleet mixed with rain through Thursday afternoon. As night rolls around the surface low is expected to track across the northern Gulf of Mexico near the Louisiana Coast.

A changeover to all snow should occur over South Mississippi. Accumulations of 2 to 4 inches will be possible overnight. The snow may be heavy at times, which could result in isolated amounts higher than 4 inches.

My many friends from up north of the Mason Dixon line assure me that 2-4 inches of snow is a huge amount. Stay tuned.

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Slabbed news miscellany: AROD remanded without bond. Backlash against government subsidized property and casualty insurers. UPDATED with scoop from the Ladder – Dr. Van Heerden filing suit against LSU!

We have so much going on here at Slabbed right now we could literally spend all our waking moments authoring posts on the various topics we’re covering but since Nowdy, Bam Bam and I all have day jobs that won’t happen. In order to save a bit of time I’m combining today’s other news in one post thus the title. Nowdy will be along later to chip in her two cents.

We start with a reader tip on Ashton O’Dwyer, a troubled man who now is in deep trouble. He has been remanded to federal custody without bond. Hopefully he is also being pumped full of meds and receiving some badly needed counseling.

Next up and certainly in keeping with today’s theme of folks that are delusional, here is a story from the National Underwriter on that Property Casualty Insurers Association of America meeting held last month in San Antonio which we began profiling yesterday. This report, written by my main man Sam Friedman, covered the remarks of David Sampson, president and chief executive officer of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. Here are some excerpts:

Property and casualty insurers could easily be trapped in the “wave of political populism” sweeping the country in the wake of the nation’s economic and leadership crises, an insurer association leader warned.

“Many may believe that because people are so focused on bashing the bankers and Wall Street that the public and politicians will leave insurers alone, but I am not so sanguine,” said David Sampson, president and chief executive officer of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

Of course Mr Sampson is not so sanguine as he certainly is aware the public is paying attention even though his script is not based in any sort of reality as we continue: Continue reading “Slabbed news miscellany: AROD remanded without bond. Backlash against government subsidized property and casualty insurers. UPDATED with scoop from the Ladder – Dr. Van Heerden filing suit against LSU!”

How ya’ gonna keep ’em down on the Farm after they’ve seen evidence linking Haag and FAEC to State Farm’s fraudulent billing scheme? Part 2: Rigsby sisters’ expert witness disclosures

“SF [State Farm] used pre-conceived notions as to the cause of the damage and directed the resolution of the claim so that the ultimate outcome conformed to that pre-conceived belief.”

The written disclosure of the Rigsbys’ Risk Management expert, Louis G. Fey, continued and identified the first evidence documenting State Farm’s pre-conceived notions as to the cause of damage:

SF obtained a regional engineering study and instructed their adjusters to use that report as a reference or as investigative input at the least or to use it as “the bible” at worst. The industry’s fair claim practices hold that each claim must be addressed on its own merits and no pre-conceived assumptions should be used to influence the outcome.

This “bible”, the Haag Report, was the cornerstone of “pre-conceived belief” that a coordinated effort could reduce State Farm’s exposure by attributing damage to the excluded flood water.  SLABBED examined the Haag Report in the September 2009 post Haag in the Church of What’s Happening Now in Rigsby qui tam.  According to the “bible”, water came before the wind – a prophecy that would be revealed as Haag ascended into State Farm’s Wind-Water Protocol, FEMA’s Expedited Claim Handling Process, and guided by hell’s own angel, Lecky King, into the reports of Forensic’s engineering.

The Rigsbys’ Risk Management expert continued his report stating, “SF failed to meet its obligations to NFIP and FEMA with regard to the proper use of engineers”. Continue reading “How ya’ gonna keep ’em down on the Farm after they’ve seen evidence linking Haag and FAEC to State Farm’s fraudulent billing scheme? Part 2: Rigsby sisters’ expert witness disclosures”

Catching up with the news. Barney Frank threatens the NFIP with the nuclear option. Slabbed provides the analysis.

Representative Barney Frank is one of those Democrats that has been demonized by right wing ideologues for years so it is not surprising the man is so roundly hated in the Gulf South. One of the first openly gay members of Congress, Representative Frank has been a convenient target for the social-tolerance challenged souls that make up the right-wing of the GOP. He has also gone out of his way trying to help the people of the Gulf Coast by tirelessly championing Gene Taylor’s multiperil bill HR 1264 in the US House of Representatives. From our perspective here at Slabbed he is also his own man, one of a group of congressmen that is not owned by special interests and despite the importance of the committee Frank chairs to the Wall Street crowd he stands in stark contrast to soon to be former $enator ¢hris Dodd who is wholly owned by Wall Street interests. It is from that perspective that I write this post which includes some insight from our sources in the capitol along with some conjecture from the Slabbed editorial board. Let’s begin with this Arthur Postal report from the National Underwriter:

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, wants another House committee to take jurisdiction over the troubled and controversial National Flood Insurance Program.

A spokesman for the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) voiced “skepticism” over Mr. Frank’s comments, saying he doesn’t see how “switching committee jurisdictions will adequately address the underlying problem, which is that Congress needs to set for itself a reasonable schedule to consider a comprehensive NFIP reform bill that includes a five-year reauthorization.” Continue reading “Catching up with the news. Barney Frank threatens the NFIP with the nuclear option. Slabbed provides the analysis.”