Category: State Farm

…and the score in the State Farm game was 45-19.5…Allstate 65-0 next game in town

Beginning in mid-February, State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. will raise homeowner insurance rates 19.5 percent in the three Coast counties…Allstate is requesting a 65 percent rate hike statewide.

Anita Lee has the story on rising insurance rates for the Sun Herald.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney approved the rate increase, rejecting State Farm’s request for a 45 percent rate hike along the Coast. New rates will apply only for current policyholders because State Farm is writing no new business in the three Coast counties…The Mississippi Insurance Department has asked for additional information from Allstate in reviewing the rate proposal. Chaney’s office did the same with State Farm before agreeing to the lower increase.

State Farm already had raised rates in the rest of Mississippi by 3.9 percent. Continue reading “…and the score in the State Farm game was 45-19.5…Allstate 65-0 next game in town”

Low tide, rising rates sink all ships

The study is expected to have many benefits. For one, it would give leaders a clear cost-to-benefit analysis. As important, the wind mitigation study would allow for systematic improvements in the hurricane resistance of buildings in the six counties on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Stone, Pearl River and George) by utilizing wind-resistant construction techniques to reduce property damage and/or loss.

This would result in a significant reduction in insurance premiums, as well as reduce the negative economic impact of a hurricane on the entire state and its citizens, the MID said.

Florida’s mitigation discount experience suggests any premium reduction in Mississippi will be short-lived, according to the latest news from Tallahassee.

In the coming months, hundreds of thousands of Florida homeowners will see insurance bills increase.  And many others will open their mailboxes and get the insurance industry’s version of the pink slip, forcing them to buy coverage from the state or turn to companies they might never have heard of. Continue reading “Low tide, rising rates sink all ships”

Slabbed Scoops the News: Bossier gets nothing in Phase 2

We’ve confirmed Kris Carter’s comment. On behalf of Nowdy and Bam Bam we’d like to thank Mr and Mrs Bossier for sticking with this litigation to the end. While our gratitude will certainly be of little solace to them right now perhaps in time they’ll take comfort from the greater good it accomplished. We also thank Judy Guice.  The tenacity in her advocating for the Bossiers is self-evident and indicative of the fine consumer lawyer she is.

I’ll be back with some analysis a bit later on the jury.

sop

Bossier delayed until Monday

As I alluded yesterday we heard the rumor about the delay and Anita Lee made it official. Today she gives us some added color to the cause:

The fifth day of trial in a Hurricane Katrina wind vs. water case was cancelled Friday because Judge L.T. Senter Jr. was sick.

The jury trial in Bossier v. State Farm is expected to resume Monday morning in U.S. District Court.

Reginald “Ed” Bossier contends that wind effectively destroyed his one-story home before the tide from the Back Bay surged through.

The story also contained an interesting tidbit we’ve been all over since it happened in the very late belated payment to the Bossiers for their outbuilding. Again this is manifest bad faith and illustrates State Farm’s deny first and delay payment approach to their claims handling: Continue reading “Bossier delayed until Monday”

Breaking: Bossier Trial on Delay. Meantime lets drop a few names.

We heard the rumors late this morning and now Anita Lee makes it official, Bossier has been delayed until this afternoon.

Anita’s Wednesday mid afternoon update mentioned State Farm having their PR crew at the Russell courthouse. I was surprised to learn Bob Lapinski, formerly of Allstate, is now working for State Farm. Bob’s LinkedIn page needs some TLC.  Along with Bob is David Majors who is the regional PR contact on the insurance bad faith Farm. MIA is Phil Supple who has a good last name for being in the shillin’ biz. Phil may have gotten a bad oyster last time he was down.

I suspect our very good friend Sup knows Bob. By all accounts Bob is quite the chatty jovial type. Perhaps if Sup sees this he’ll stop in and share some insight with us.

So while we wait for more news on Bossier lets take a trip down memory lane to the 2006 CNN documentary The Town that Fought Back.  Vive La Revolution Continue reading “Breaking: Bossier Trial on Delay. Meantime lets drop a few names.”

Breaking: State Farm files for mistrial in Bossier

I am locked up in a meeting this afternoon and just about spit my coffee when I saw the latest on Bossier.  In short, the Farm knows they are toast in Bossier and are now officially grasping for straws. Anita Lee, who is now offically part of the news cycle, reports for the Sun Herald:

U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. denied State Farm’s motion for a mistrial before a jury returned to the courtroom for a fourth day of testimony Thursday in a Katrina case, Bossier vs. State Farm.

State Farm attorneys sought the mistrial because of an article in Thursday morning’s Sun Herald. The article reported on Senter’s suggestion that the attorneys get with their client, State Farm, and try to settle the case.

Senter polled the jury and found two of the eight jurors had been told that an article was in the newspaper but they did not hear anything about the content. Continue reading “Breaking: State Farm files for mistrial in Bossier”

Anita Lee covers Bossier v State Farm trial for the Sun Herald

Pupua admitted under questioning from Bossier’s attorney, Judy Guice, that he was unable to produce any of the reports he used because State Farm later conducted a “Hurricane sweep,” as Guice called it. The company ordered adjusters to return all Katrina documents, including e-mails and adjusting guidelines.

How thoughtful of the good neighbor!  Who would have ever guessed? Bossier’s counsel Judy Guice certainly wasn’t guessing!  Anita Lee reports on the trial of Bossier v State Farm in two stories for the Sun Herald – Wind versus water damage debated in State Farm case and Witness says wind, adjuster says water.   Lee’s first story provides background and covers the opening statements made by counsel for both parties:

Attorneys for Bossier and State Farm offered opening arguments Monday after eight jurors were selected to hear the case in U.S. District Court. The jury must decide whether Bossier is owed more than the total of $93,480 State Farm already has paid on a policy that provided about $650,000 in coverage.

State Farm contends water destroyed Bossier’s one-story home. Bossier argues State Farm wrongly shifted the burden to him to prove wind heavily damaged his home before the water arrived…

Guice told the jury State Farm adjusters were instructed to deny coverage when they were unable to distinguish wind from water damage. “The proof will show State Farm forced the insured to sue and prove his losses,” said Guice, who hopes to seek punitive damages if Bossier wins his case for policy limits in the trial’s first phase.

State Farm attorney Ben Mullen argued the insurance company denied coverage only for excluded water damage, as the policy dictates. He said testimony from the same eyewitness will show water had risen high enough by 8 a.m. to destroy the Bossier home in the Bayside Drive neighborhood.

Lee’s second story covers the Tuesday testimony of State Farm adjuster Tip Pupua: Continue reading “Anita Lee covers Bossier v State Farm trial for the Sun Herald”

(almost) Breaking News – Trial date set for Rigsby Qui Tam

My computer broke before I could post the breaking news (hence the “almost”).  $%#&  Now, I’m broke; $%#&  However, Sop (and everyone else who saw the Katrina survivor I typed on until today) will tell you that I’ve needed a new computer at least as long as he’s known me.

I’ve got one now…it looks a lot like the trip to the beach I was planning because I didn’t  just buy one, I bought two and an external hard drive that backs up what I put on them (and will  hold more than I’ll have to save before placing  my order with Walmart) – but enough of that and on to the (almost) breaking news.

Rigsby qui tam is going to trial. December 1 is the date…2010 is the year – according to the scheduling order locked in my old computer.

It’s been a long day.  I started shopping after lunch but didn’t have everything working until an hour or so before midnight.  So, tomorrow Scarlett (or maybe the next day) I’ll come up with the scheduling order and update this post.  Meanwhile, let us all ponder WTF is the reason there will be no trial on the Rigsby qui tam claim until the sixth year following Hurricane Katrina.