Two Mississippi blogs that gained some measure of recognition for creating a “Scruggs Sideshow” following the indictment of attorney Dick Scruggs are attempting a re-run based on the otherwise uneeventful ruling of a DC court judge – and “I call bullshit”.
The matter before the DC court was “bullshit”, too – “bullshit” from the “good neighbor” that’s Dick-Scruggs-made-me-do-it-defense to fraud was thwarted when Judge Senter issued an order bifurcating the trial of the Rigsby’s qui tam claim from State Farm’s counterclaim.
I am of the opinion that an attempt to try the Relators’ claim and State Farm’s counterclaim in a single proceeding is likely to hopelessly confuse the jury on the merits of both claims. Accordingly, I will bifurcate the trial of these two claims, and I will hear the evidence on the Relators’ qui tam claim first. I will stay discovery on State Farm’s counterclaim until the trial of the Relators’ claim has been completed, and I will schedule a separate trial to reach the merits of the counterclaim.
Since the fraud was so evident, hopelessly confusing the jury was the only hope State Farm had of defeating the Rigsbys’ claim. A decision for the Rigsbys in the first trial automatically defeats State Farm’s counterclaim as it would prove the documents copied by the Rigsbys were not stolen property but evidence of the fraud.
As the slabbed would expect, State Farm’s legal team came up with a bullshit-and-shovel-strategy to circumvent Judge Senter’s Order. In other words, State Farm launched a deep-sea fishing expedition into all things Scruggs using the D.C. based Rendon Group as bait. Rendon responded with a Motion to Quash and the Order issued yesterday denied all but two of the 20 requests for production State Farm demanded in its subpeona.
Yesterday’s ruling was a huge defeat for State Farm and there is no reason to believe there will be any admissible evidence produced as a result. On the other hand, the Rigsbys are continuing to turn up evidence that supports the allegations made in their qui tam complaint. That’s the big story in the trial based on the merits of the Rigsbys’ claim and that’s the story we will tell on SLABBED – the story of a fraud that brought the Coast economy to its knees and, in turn, that of the State as well.
“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it“
Nowdy
The blogs you mentioned never seem to find time to post the altered engineering reports or the damning emails. We cover it all good and bad, gavel to gavel. The fact that a blog which has political connections to an insurance commissioner who has a lot to lose if this is not swept under the rug and another whose family does legal work for State Farm probably explains the spotty coverage and really tells the whole story.
Dick Scruggs was yesterday’s boogie man. Building mountains from molehills won’t help State Farm or Mike Chaney and frankly smacks of desperation.
sop
I left a comment asking NMC how much State Farm was paying him? He has not posted it
NMC= Noted Money Chaser.
Rust isn’t it $trange that a$elf de$cribed yellow dog democrat would hold hand$ with a $taunch republican to run down two whistleblowers on behalf of $tate Farm. $urely there ha$ to be a good explanation.
We’ve seen it all since the storm. This would not be the first time poseurs popped up shilling on behalf of insurers. In Rossie’s case it is pretty clear he really didn’t know what he was talking about. The lack of any sort of in depth coverage of this case out of your girlfriend NMC except to take cheap shots at 2 whistleblowers should tell everyone all they need to know.
sop
NMC confuses me. What is he blogging about?
In State Farm gets some documents, Part 1: a
Steve it is worse than that because he mangled the case status in that reply where he got snotty with a long time commenter of his simply because the guy doesn’t buy NMC’s BS. Rossmiller used similar tactics.
McIntosh, is an exemplar case, one will open the rest of them once the Rigsby sisters prove that less than 2 feet of floodwater did not trash the house to the tune of $250,000 in NFIP coverage. The eyewitnesses and damning internal emails will ice that cake. The rest of the similar claims should have already been identified for Judge Senter pursuant to his order from last summer waiting to be joined to McIntosh once the sisters make their case.
As much as NMC, Rossie and Alan Lange wrote about the McIntosh claim never once did any of them delve into the specifics of it. Rather they engaged in a blog circle jerk where one of them would posit speculation as fact and the others repeat it as though it were fact. It is the kind of thing that give blogs a bad name frankly and most likely the reason that Alan Lange’s book was riddled with factual inaccuracies. Exhaustive research from faulty sources dos not mitigate the faulty source.
If you give NMC the complete benefit of the doubt on what motivated him to hatchet job the litigation down here at best he is a pompous fool. And the shame is none of these innocent policyholders here had to be served up to State Farm in order to satisfy his bloodlust for Dick Scruggs. When it comes to his depictions of the litigation down here the phrase “big hat, no cattle” comes to mind. Simply put he doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.
sop
that’s what I love the most about SLABBED, doug, you wrote:
“…We cover it all good and bad, gavel to gavel….”
I detest sites that censor their comments.
Thanks Shirley. Speaking of gavel to gavel there continues to be activity in Ex Rel Rigsby. With some luck my partner will have something up soon to update this case as soon as expected rulings are filed on PACER.
sop