Day: May 13, 2010

Grab the popcorn – Video depositions of State Farm adjusters hyperlinked in plaintiffs' Response

Enter stage left: Rachel Savoy – seasoned adjuster of the policyholder’s claims under both their Flood and State Farm policies (Taranto v State Farm)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlVnJHNkhcY]

Q: …Can you give me a description of what, in you experience and knowledge of adjusting claims, what does concurrent causation mean to you in handling a claim?
A:  Any loss that occurs with the covered loss and a non-covered loss whether it be before or after or during is not covered. [Exhibit C; Savoy depo at pp. 32-33; http://bit.ly/bAjCJ1].

Savoy further explains the application of the concurrent cause part of the policy,

Q. OK and when you say that something is not covered if the cause of the loss is combined to create a loss in any sequence of events; is that correct?
A. That’s my understanding.
Q. Ok. And is that a method with which you have applied the concurrent causation exclusion over your experience over the eleven, twelve years?
A. Yes.  [Exhibit C; Savoy Depo at p. 33; http://bit.ly/aOCPI8].

Compliments of Anita Lee’s blog in the Sun Herald, we have An entertaining legal brief? You bet.  The briefs – Plaintiffs’ Response Brief in Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment (Toranto et al v State Farm) and Plaintiffs’ Response Brief in Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment (Flores et al v State Farm) are as solidly grounded in law as they are innovative in format. Plaintiffs in both cases are represented by Mississippi attorney Darryl Gibbs with Louisiana’s John Denena Pro Hac Vice. Continue reading “Grab the popcorn – Video depositions of State Farm adjusters hyperlinked in plaintiffs' Response”

Sniff, sniff – smells political to me: Lt. Governor says folks smelling oil are getting whiff from their lawn mower!

Give Lt. Governor Phil Bryant credit – the man’s got a nose for news.  Literally.  No reporter could possibly pass up the opportunity to write story about the remarks he made at yesterday’s Coastal Development Strategies Conference –  and SLABBED has Mary Perez of the Sun Herald to thank for Bryant doesn’t smell oil.

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant’s response to people in South Mississippi who’ve said they can smell oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf is, “No, you can’t.”

Speaking at Wednesday’s Coastal Development Strategies Conference, Bryant said the smell may be coming from their lawn mowers. “That is not gasoline coming out of the Gulf,” he said

Bryant said the media on the Coast haven’t overreacted to the oil spill, but the same can’t be said of the national media, who compared it with the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. “This is not the Exxon Valdez,” he said.

The Exxon Valdez “this is not” – it’s much larger, Phil – but let’s get back to the subject of politicians and odors and the most well-known story never published.  Ironically, the politician in this story was a  member of our Legislature at the time and, otherwise, in the oil and “gas” business.

Trapped in the inside seat by an ample woman in the seat on the aisle, the Honorable Member was on one of those packed flights connecting Jackson to Atlanta when his body relieved a bit of pressure of the deadly but silent type –  just as the good looking stewardess was making her way down the aisle.  Obviously, he couldn’t open a window; so, politician that he was, he simply fixed his eyes on the lady seated next to him. She, on the other hand, was no politician and as the approaching stewardess picked up the “whiff”, his seatmate turned to him and said loudly enough for the stewardess and those seated nearby to hear, “Needin’ be lookin’ at me like that, I seed you when you tilted!”

So, Phil, SLABBED “seed you when you tilted” and we’re telling you there aren’t enough lawnmowers on the Coast to account for what folks are sniffing.  However, if you let SLABBED know when you’ve got all those lite governors coming, we’ll do you proud with a lawnmower rodeo that you can point to as the cause of the odor. Continue reading “Sniff, sniff – smells political to me: Lt. Governor says folks smelling oil are getting whiff from their lawn mower!”

Jim Brown on BP

Thursday, May 6th 2010
Venice, Louisiana

IN LOUISIANA OIL SPILL

DID STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES DROP THE BALL?

It didn’t take long for the blame game to begin shortly after the tragic Gulf oil explosion. State and Federal officials were in lock step in declaring that British Petroleum (BP), who had leased the gulf oil track from the federal government, was completely at fault and had the sole obligation to get the mess cleaned up. “Our job is basically to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum…to stop this spill,” asserted Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. But is that the game plan for a major gulf explosion? Pass the blame and holler for the other guy to solve the problem?

Salazar was joined by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in saying: “The administration responded with all hands on deck from day one.” But the question is…how? Was there a “disaster game plan” on both the federal and state levels to deal with this massive spill? Or were both the president and the Louisiana state officials making best efforts not to relive a Katrina response, where virtually every governmental body in the mix failed to promptly respond to the crisis?

Simply put, the apparent game plan by both the Feds and state officials in Louisiana was: Hey, we’re all watching, but let BP (British Petroleum)do the clean up.” It quickly became apparent that BP was in over their heads, and needed massive public help. The company may have the financial responsibility, but there was no way they had the immediate resources to put together a defensive game plan to stop the oil from infecting the sea and shoreline. What was Plan B? You always have a Plan B as a backup, right? Continue reading “Jim Brown on BP”

The truth emerges. Steve Theriot's lawsuit against the Blogosphere is continued retaliation against Anne Marie Vandenweghe. Slabbed was there from the beginning and now can tell the story. (Corrected)

What has become known here on slabbed as the Jefferson Parish political corruption scandal is a multi-faceted affair that would take several posts to recap. In my opinion the big Kahuna is the River Birch landfill but we also have the petty corruption in the Redflex Contract along with some garden variety payroll fraud, and of course the blatant double-dealing which started it all in Bill Hubbard, his girlfriend, Tim Whitmer and Lagniappe Industries among other things. As Jim Letten’s boys began to examine all these items via subpoena there was commonality between all the scandals in the person in the Parish Attorney’s office whose job responsibilities included most all record requests in Anne Marie Vandenweghe.

Anyone following the NOLA media from late October of last year on were treated to a succession of headline making revelations regarding the manner former Parish President Aaron  Broussard conducted Parish business including the items I mentioned above. Each revelation drug in more and more people as the web of systemic corruption in Parish government was laid bare for all to see. And with each revelation the pressure on the perpetrators that remained in Parish government increased. The Parish Council, charged with naming Broussard’s replacement, made promises of an open and transparent process but when it was all said and done former Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot was appointed interim Parish President via the bums rush in a move that stunned local good government activists. And still the bad news from Yenni continued to flow. Continue reading “The truth emerges. Steve Theriot's lawsuit against the Blogosphere is continued retaliation against Anne Marie Vandenweghe. Slabbed was there from the beginning and now can tell the story. (Corrected)”