Day: February 22, 2010

Give me something for lagniappe – the Times Picayune links Tim Bonura, All South Consulting Engineers to Whitmer’s insurance business

Lagniappe – “a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get,” according to Mark Twain – wasn’t in my vocabulary until college friends from Louisiana introduced me to the word and the custom.  Perhaps that’s why the irony of Lagniappe Industries as the name of former Jefferson Parish executive Tim Whitmer’s insurance company escaped me until Sop tossed me Jefferson Parish contractor linked to Tim Whitmer firm on his way out the door.

Though the word is included in English dictionaries it is used primarily in the region influenced by New Orleans…It has a restricted meaning, but I think the people spread it out a little when they choose. It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a “baker’s dozen.” It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure. The custom originated in the Spanish quarter of the city. When a child or a servant buys something in a shop — or even the mayor or the governor, for aught I know — he finishes the operation by saying — “Give me something for lagniappe.”  The shopman always responds…

Although I was a slow to catch the significance, I suspect any contractor Whitmer handed a Lagniappe Industries business card caught on immediately –  solicitation by double entendre.

All South Consulting Engineers, a Jefferson Parish contractor, also had private insurance business with Tim Whitmer, the parish’s former top executive, Whitmer has confirmed.

Documents, including a 2007 e-mail from Whitmer to All South and a 2008 partial fax from All South President Tim Bonura to Whitmer, indicate that a relationship existed between the consulting company and Whitmer’s insurance work…

An e-mail — dated Oct. 31, 2007, and sent from Whitmer to an All South e-mail address — referenced the renewal of a workers’ compensation insurance policy from Nov. 1, 2007, to Nov. 1, 2008. Whitmer signed the e-mail as an agent for Lagniappe, which he co-owns with his wife, Dawn. Bonura was copied on the exchange. Continue reading “Give me something for lagniappe – the Times Picayune links Tim Bonura, All South Consulting Engineers to Whitmer’s insurance business”

Responsibility? Not the policy at Liberty Mutual. Hardball adjusting and litigation is more like it. Slabbed welcomes the insurance bastards from Massachusetts

Courtesy of Mr Liberty Mutual: http://mrlibertymutual.com/

My partner Nowdy is our resident law blogger and she has done a bang up job covering the insurance litigation here on Slabbed but a few evenings ago she sent me some documents from the Branch false claims act case that made my jaw drop. Operating under the assumption that a picture is worth a thousand words as Nowdy illustrated in her post Branch Consultants file Rock(well) solid opposition to Protective Order – explain why Walker’s Order won’t protect State Farm’s a$$ in Rigsby qui tam, I’ve embedded Exhibit 2 from the Branch reply on Motion to Compel Exhibit 2, Docket #238.  The documented wind damage to the house at 7441 Fieldstone Road in New Orleans begins on page 3: 

[scribd id=27241471 key=key-p6y6z8tgm0dpla6to48] 

So folks if we can all agree on the obvious wind damage and before I get to the portion of the pleading which is the topic of this post we need to visit with the former Liberty Mutual employee who now goes by the nom de guerre Mr Liberty Mutual: Continue reading “Responsibility? Not the policy at Liberty Mutual. Hardball adjusting and litigation is more like it. Slabbed welcomes the insurance bastards from Massachusetts”