Category: Stephan Hinkle

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”

State Farm puts the Court to the test in Bossier – files nine motions in limine UPDATED

Defendants mistakenly believe that just because evidence is prejudicial it is not admissible. Not so. All relevant evidence is necessarily prejudicial.

Are we going to see yet another case gutted before trial? Obviously,  State Farm would like nothing better.  The Company filed nine motions in limine on the last day of September with trial set for little more than a month away.

Taken in the order of just how offensive the motions are to the public interest, SLABBED examines the nine starting with #7: to Preclude Testimony or Evidence Relating to Interpretation of Insurance Policy Provisions or Principles of Mississippi Law and to Exclude the Wind Water Claim Handing Protocol.

State Farm anticipates that Plaintiff may attempt to introduce testimony and/or evidence regarding a State Farm document known as the Wind Water Claim Handling Protocol… That document, however, should not be used for any purpose during the trial of Plaintiff’s claims. First, the document should not be used during the coverage phase of trial because how an adjuster investigates a claim has no bearing on what damage wind or flood caused to Plaintiff’s property or on whether those damages qualify for coverage under the plain terms of the homeowners policy.

Second, the document is also inadmissible during the later phase of trial (if any) involving claims for extra-contractual and punitive damages because (1) introducing the protocol would inject unfair prejudice against State Farm and needlessly confuse the jury by introducing a purported investigatory process alongside the controlling Mississippi investigatory standard beyond the abilityof any instruction by the Court to cure and (2) the document does not evidence bad faith or other culpable conduct. (Emphasis added – and doubled)

The following excerpt from the November 1, 2006 deposition of Stephan Hinkle, principal developer of the Protocol, provides just one of the many reasons the Court should carefully consider this motion. Continue reading “State Farm puts the Court to the test in Bossier – files nine motions in limine UPDATED”

Z-Cat’s meow sez hurricane is windstorm and Merlin z-magician pulls memorandum of law from z-hat

Z is for Zurich and the company’s new web site that tells z-truth about the z-weather – a hurricane is a windstorm!  The site also contains an excellent must-read publication, Zurich’s six-page Guide to hurricane emergency action plans.

We talk weather in the south.  Nowadays, weather-talk is usually just polite conversation.  However, for much of our history, ours was a weather-based economy and talking weather was talking money.  Even in that context, no one ever thought of lying about the weather; but, somewhere along the way, something happened that gave birth to one of Sop’s favorite sayings – don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

Policyholder attorney Chip Merlin briefly explained how Sop’s quip applied to post-Katrina litigation in a recent post about Zurich’s new website and admission:

Some insurance company attorneys have been arguing that a “windstorm” is only the “wind” part of a hurricane and not the entire tropical cyclone that has wind, storm surge, and everything else that causes damage from a tropical windstorm. Their clients know better, but it does not prevent defense attorneys from arguing this unsupported bad faith position.

In a follow-up post yesterday, Merlin explains why defining a hurricane as a windstorm is significant and, in the process, also helps me pull together a few thoughts about the unexpected risk of an all-risk policy following Hurricane Katrina:

Randy Santa Cruz, William Weatherly, and I came up with this idea while working in Mississippi following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. I’ve attached a draft memorandum of law so others may use this argument with their own facts and policy language. Let me give you the Reader’s Digest version of this analysis.

The relevant policy language is fairly standard in most homeowner policies. The language regarding “collapse” caused by a “windstorm” is significant Continue reading “Z-Cat’s meow sez hurricane is windstorm and Merlin z-magician pulls memorandum of law from z-hat”