Alternative New Media for the Gulf South
A Notice of Appearance and Designation of Lead Counsel was filed in Shows v State Farm today.
Plaintiffs – Glenda Shows and 13 other former clients of the disqualified Katrina Litigation Group – have retained the Beaumont-based firm of Provost-Umphrey and designated Guy Fisher as Lead Counsel.
h/t bellesouth
This week’s Katrina news came in snapshots that slowly revealed a rather disturbing picture. Let’s take a look starting with the motion filed by Lumpkin & Reeves to clarify the firm’s eligibility in McIntosh v State Farm.
While I was trying to decide where to post the motion, State Farm filed a response – their opposition was not surprising but I was far from the only one shocked by their undocumented reference to supporting blog comments.
Given the first hit for this search, I felt cited-sub-silentio by this sentence: “As several commentors have observed, the KLG’s highly unethical acts have exposed its constituent law firms to potential lawsuits for legal malpractices by their clients.” Do you think they had any particular commentor in mind?
What really blew me away, however, was this documented reference to State Farm’s unethical conduct contained in the Lumpkin-Reeves reply. Continue reading “News of settling and unsettling news – such is the life of the slabbed”
Dogs don’t bark at parked cars; but, a parked trailer appears to be an entirely different matter – particularly if the Rigsby sisters are inside blowing the whistle on State Farm to a group of Qui Tam attorneys.
Of course, all dogs aren’t barking the same message. Some are woofing a warning bark (perceived territorial intrusion), others an alarm bark (informing others), and an undetermined number are barking at the owner’s request (on command).
Most of the noise about the trailer meetings, however, comes from those standing on two legs barking up the wrong tree because of a false premise in the syllogism at the core of their deductive reasoning. Continue reading “Parked cars and “trailer lawyers””
While we await Friday’s responses in Ex Rel Rigsby there were other developments yesterday with the litigation involving the Katrina Litigation Group. As we expected the racketeering suit was dealt a blow with the disqualification of the Rigsby sisters and the Katrina Litigation Group. The issues in Shows were virtually identical to McIntosh and other policyholder lawsuits involving the old Scruggs Katrina Group. It will be interesting to see how this suit in particular is impacted as Racketeering is specialized litigation that requires deep pockets to litigate. My blog partner Nowdy tells me the McIntosh family has retained Chip Merlin to represent them. Excellent choice IMHO. Here is today’s Anita Lee Sun Herald story:
A federal judge on Wednesday disqualified from a Katrina lawsuit all former Scruggs Katrina Group attorneys, who in June 2007 filed a racketeering case against State Farm and its vendors. Continue reading “Shows Takes Expected Hit”
Anita Lee has broken the story that the remainder of the old Scruggs Katrina Group is disqualified from representing their insurance plaintiffs. The order entered today was in the McIntosh case but applies to all their remaining clients. I have a feeling Chip Merlin’s phone will now be ringing off the hook. Here is a copy of the order and here is a copy of Judge Senter’s opinion.
The reasoning relates to the payments made to the Rigsby sisters by Dickie Scruggs:
I have determined that disqualification is required because Scruggs, acting in furtherance of the SKG joint venture, paid the Rigsby sisters a substantial sum of money (a consulting fee of $150,000 per year) despite Scruggs’s knowledge that the Rigsby sisters were material witnesses in connection with many hurricane damage claims that were likely to become the subject of litigation. While Scruggs made the arrangements for these payments, the other members of the SKG joint venture knew or should have known that the payments were being made, and I am of the opinion that their failure to take timely and reasonable remedial steps or to object to this arrangement amounts to a ratification of Scruggs’s actions. While the other ethical misconduct alleged by State Farm and Renfroe are substantial, the payments to the Rigsby sisters are, in and of themselves, sufficient to warrant disqualification. Continue reading “Breaking: Judge Senter Disqualifies Katrina Litigation Group”
Sop says he’s “really busy” – tax time and all that – so he hopes I “don’t mind posting today’s update on Brown v Nutt” – like I don’t know he’s ROTFLHAO at the thought of me trying to compose one of my “straight news posts” about the Exhibits submitted with the latest response from the defense.
No problem, Sop, I’ll just link folks to Legal News Line so they can read the first part of the email mail message and insert the rest of the Maria Brown version of the 2007 Tax Code as a quote:
10-12″ Luxury Tax $300.00
8-10″ Pole Tax $250.00
5-8″ Privilege Tax $150
3-5″ Nuisance Tax $30.00
Readers who don’t want to put the two parts together can just download the Exhibits and read it all on page 37 – that’s as far as I was able to read without thinking that you were going to owe me a case of Fat Mama’s and some sweet potatoes for this post!
I’m cutting this short – so to speak – to set up a new page under Legal – leaving you and our readers to decide if the good neighbor isn’t a bit of a peeping Tom for including Maria Brown in their effort to disqualify KLG.
We have been debating internally whether to cover certain aspects of the ongoing Dickie Scruggs saga as it relates to the insurance litigation here on the coast. To this point we haven’t necessarily had the opportunity, as Mr. Scruggs withdrawal from the old Scruggs Katrina Group occurred before our effort here commenced.
Keeping up with those events in detail is imperative however, due to the huge ramifications for current litigants, especially those using the re-formed law venture once fronted by Mr. Scruggs, the Katrina Litigation Group.
Events in the ongoing federal investigation are now moving forward quickly with the confirmation that Mr. Joey Langston has plead guilty and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Those keeping a closer watch already knew this bit of information well in advance due to the hard work and dedication of Lotus and her excellent group of knowledgeable Mississippi based commenters at the Folo blog.
For those interested in Scruggs mania and ongoing development in what could ultimately develop into one of the biggest cases of judicial and political corruption seen in this Nation’s history (I sincerely do not believe I am overstating that). I highly recommend pulling up a chair at Lotus’ cyber table and pouring yourself a cup of joe. Warning: The posts and commentary there is highly addictive.
sop