Although I’d planned to post about State Farm’s Mickey Mouse expert witnesses today, I first need to report the Rigsbys’ attempt to put a stop to the Company’s “sideshow” with their filing of a Notice of Assertion of Privilege.
Before I do that, however, I need to link Anita Lee’s story, State Farm pursues Scruggs, records in whistle-blower case, from yesterday’s Sun Herald for background.
State Farm has subpoenaed former attorney and current federal prisoner Dickie Scruggs, along with a host of documents he may possess, for pretrial testimony in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed against the insurer over Katrina-claims handling.State Farm’s subpoena of Scruggs requests information involving the same cast of characters tied to a North Mississippi judicial bribery scheme that netted Scruggs seven years in prison. State Farm seeks to take his pretrial testimony Tuesday at the Federal Correctional Institute in Ashland, Ky., where he is serving a seven-year sentence.
Although Lee points out, “A flurry of motions are being filed as a July 1 deadline approaches for each side to finish requests for pretrial fact-gathering, called discovery”. the word “blizzard” might be more apt. With documents flying around like crazy, the Rigsby sisters wisely put everyone on notice:
Relators Kerri Rigsby and Cori Rigsby (“Relators”) hereby provide notice that they decline to waive or relinquish their attorney-client privilege, work product privilege, or other privileges or protections to which they may be entitled as to documents or information that may be in the possession of any former counsel, persons who acted at the direction of former counsel, or the successors thereto. Relators assert their right to have any and all former counsel, persons who acted at the direction of former counsel, or the successors thereto take appropriate steps to maintain and protect that confidentiality and privileged nature of whatever information or documents may exist their files or otherwise in their possession, including but not limited to asserting where appropriate privileges or protections affecting the Relators’ former counsel’s billing records in the possession of the Katrina Litigation Group.
With State Farm frantically attempting to make the merits of the case secondary to the Company’s “Scruggs sideshow”, SLABBED will take a look at some of those “documents flying around like crazy” in the Part 3 of the Rigsby qui tam update and at some point we’ll get back to Mickey Mouse.
Anita Lee has also done a comprehensive blog entry on the latest with this case that is well worth the read. Forensics has settled out and the evidence they have provided is damning against State Farm.
sop
Oh my!! That’s truly incredible!