Tag: Kuehn v State Farm

And to think Eric Paulsen had an insurance case against State Farm we somehow missed….

This pleading came to me captioned Gates – Best Pleading Ever and in a strange slabbed sort of way it is as we find an example of a plaintiffs lawyer doing some of the sleazy things we’ve come to expect from State Farm lawyers like our old friend Scot Spragins of Kuehn infamy. Best of all it allows me to roll out some of Eric’s off air friends like Shane (D’Antoni) Gates and Danny Abel. To wit:

First, Plaintiff and Shane Gates (also known as Shane L. D’Antoni) are creditor/mortgagee and debtor/mortgagor on the very property as issue in this lawsuit, 56345 McManus Road in Slidell, Louisiana. 2 Thus when Baumgartner questioned Plaintiff at his deposition regarding his “unusual relationship” with Gates and why Gates seemed to be living at the McManus Road Property, Plaintiff’s reply that “Gates made a few mortgage payments” for Plaintiff has a whole new set of implications in light of the unearthing of the Bond for Deed, a transaction that has never been disclosed to State Farm or its counsel during the adjustment and lawsuit over this claim.3 Certainly in Plaintiff’s position as creditor/seller to Gates of the McManus Property, Plaintiff could have produced Gates for deposition and clearly knew at the outset when initial disclosures and discovery was made that Gates would be a witness in these proceedings. Continue reading “And to think Eric Paulsen had an insurance case against State Farm we somehow missed….”

Kuehns put State Farm's foot in the other shoe with Motion to Enforce Settlement

At this point in Katrina litigation, it takes a long memory or short search to come up with enough background  to give context to recent developments in a case such as Kuehn v State Farm.

Henry and June Kuehn were among the hundreds of policyholders who attempted to resolve their claim right up to the day the August 29, 2008 SOL would have prevented filing suit.  SLABBED published Double Trouble – Kuehn v State Farm, the first of 20 mentioning the case, the following February.  Sop’s   Henry and June and the Topic of State Farm’s Cancerous Claims Handling: A Kuehn v State Farm Update (Updated) and Well here is another nice mess you’ve gotten me into Part Deux: Judge Senter lowers the boom on the topic of State Farm’s cancerous Katrina claims handling. Slabbed Congratulates Henry and June Kuehn were the last summarizing the issues.

From August 2009 forward, Kuehn v State Farm has been headed to trial on the remaining issues with State Farm attempting to settle.  The Company made two Offers of Judgment, the second this past April, and the case settled – or so it seemed until the Kuehn’s filed a Motion to Enforce Settlement .  Ironically, the sticking point is State Farm’s insistence the terms of the  settlement are confidential – and what we learn is that all along it has been State Farm, not plaintiffs, requiring confidential agreements to settle Katrina claims litigation! Continue reading “Kuehns put State Farm's foot in the other shoe with Motion to Enforce Settlement”

What’s up? What’s going down? – a quick look around at Katrina litigation

Let’s start with this update on Rigsby qui tam defendant Forensic Engineering (FAEC).  At last mention, Forensic had not obtained substitute counsel and Judge Walker had denied current counsel’s motion to withdraw. setting an April 2 deadline for submission of the Company’s designation of experts.   What’s up includes FAEC’s Joinder and Designation of Experts:

(“Forensic”)…joins in the Supplemental Combined Expert Disclosure…and Supplemental Expert Disclosures…filed by State Farm Fire and Casualty Company (“State Farm”) in this matter, to the extent applicable to Plaintiffs’ claims against Forensic.

Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 (a)(2), Forensic also designates John B. Kelly, P.E., as one of their experts. John B. Kelly is a Principal Structural Engineer that will opine that all the engineering reports and revised engineering reports were true and correct, and done in accordance with sound scientific/engineering principles and observation of the conditions at the site.

Forensic, of course, “reserves the right to call any expert listed, designated or called by any other Party” – and it’s safe to say there will be witnesses that offer a view contrary to that of Kelly.

What’s going down? It seems the Easter Bunny joined Santa Clause and the O’Keefe’s have now reached a settlement in Dancel Group, Inc. et al v. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company et al in addition to the settlement of O’Keefe v State Farm, announced in the SLABBED post that published Christmas Eve.

What’s up with Kuehn v State Farm? Hard to tell, frankly.  In the Christmas Eve catch-all linked above, SLABBED reported the what the Kuehn’s Counsel, Earl Denham, wanted to go down.

If it occurs to you and to State Farm to do the right thing by the Kuehns, instead of the strategic thing, which you have attempted through this cynical, tardy tender, then why don’t you engage in meaningful and realistic negotiations to settle my clients’ damages instead of continuing at the Kuehns’ expense in trying to redirect the law of appraisal in Mississippi? We stand ready, as we have always been, to engage you in good faith.

What Denham got in return for his offer of “good faith” was the legal equivalent of ashes and switches, an Offer of Judgment on the 20th of January – and today State Farm filed another.  Continue reading “What’s up? What’s going down? – a quick look around at Katrina litigation”

Chip Merlin’s Gulf Coast case law update provides context for SLABBED update on recent developments in selected Katrina cases UPDATED

Merlin lived up to his name when, like the magician, he pulled this list of case law out of his hat, so to speak, and posted it on his blog last week – providing the context  for an update on several cases we’ve followed on SLABBED.  Case law was the focus of Merlin’s presentation at a recent Windpool Conference session for adjusters and the listed cases are those expected to “affect those adjusting claims in Gulf Coast areas outside of Florida”:

A second listing of related “practical points” followed and included, among others, two of particular interest: Continue reading “Chip Merlin’s Gulf Coast case law update provides context for SLABBED update on recent developments in selected Katrina cases UPDATED”

Scrooges and Stooges – State Farm attorneys pack the sleigh!

More rapid than eagles these coursers they came

Scrooges and Stooges that went straight to work

Filling stockings with motions and giving justice a jerk!

Katrina insurance litigation is beginning to not look at lot like Christmas – even when State Farm slips in a check.  Take Kuehn v State Farm, for example.  Anita Lee reported State Farm pays up, but argues award was in error in Monday’s Sun Herald:

State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. recently paid a couple $179,100.31 for Katrina damage, but their attorney said the check came too late to save Henry and June Kuehn’s Cove Place home.

Attorney Earl Denham said the two-story house further deteriorated as the Kuehns awaited settlement of their insurance claim. The city of Ocean Springs wants the property cleaned up.

U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. ordered the Katrina payment in August, but State Farm has asked him to reconsider the ruling.

“This amount is tendered without recourse, but with the understanding that this is not an admission of an amount owed,” said a letter sent with the check by State Farm attorney Scot Spragins of Oxford. “Given the circumstances, State Farm has decided to make this tender to eliminate the threatened destruction of the Kuehns’ home.

“State Farm intends to continue to litigate the issue. In the event that we are successful and it is determined that these sums are not owed, then State Farm will not seek reimbursement.”

Denham replied the next day: Continue reading “Scrooges and Stooges – State Farm attorneys pack the sleigh!”

Judge Senter completes his appraisal – Order says Nationwide on wrong side with objection to Lewis O’Leary

Lewis O’Leary is known to SLABBED readers as the  Plaintiff’s appraiser in Kuehn v State Farm.  Consequently, we took note of Nationwide’s objection to O’Leary as the appraiser in a commercial property case and have been following  Sunquest Properties v Nationwide for some time.

Unlike State Farm’s “experts” in Bossier, Mr. O’Leary is qualified to offer testimony under related Mississippi law. Nonetheless, Nationwide wanted to get in the on the act and the “bright lights” of Nationwide legal filed a Motion to Strike Lewis O’Leary as Plaintiffs’ “Competent and Impartial” Appraiser.

… ample evidence of Mr. O’Leary’s partiality renders him unqualified to serve as a “competent and impartial appraiser,” as required by the appraisal clause in Plaintiffs’ policy. Simply put, a person who has been paid to work for several years on the development of a claim and continues to be paid to support that claim, is not sufficiently “impartial” to pass judgment of any kind upon that claim. Yet this is precisely what Plaintiffs suggest in nominating Mr. O’Leary as their purportedly “impartial” appraiser.

Judge Senter ruled on the Motion last week and Nationwide came out on the wrong side: Continue reading “Judge Senter completes his appraisal – Order says Nationwide on wrong side with objection to Lewis O’Leary”

Well here is another nice mess you’ve gotten me into Part Deux: Judge Senter lowers the boom on the topic of State Farm’s cancerous Katrina claims handling. Slabbed Congratulates Henry and June Kuehn

laurel and hardyI suspect the appraisal panel for Henry and June Kuehn must be feeling good that the product of their honest day’s work was affirmed in total, especially State Farm’s boogey man Lewis O’Leary.

Judge Senter doesn’t seem amused by the jackassery of State Farm’s Oxford Mississippi based lawyers Scot Spragins and Lucky Tucker of Hickman, Goza and Spragins.

What we’ve found on slabbed is that some lawyers and law firms will do anything to stay on the insurance defense money train. It is our hope that the Kuehn’s lawyer will re-file motions to have the dysfunctional duo booted from the case as they are witnesses to an extraordinary act of insurance bad faith. Our readers will no doubt recall the original motion was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be brought back up when the moment was right.

The folks at the Denham law firm have done a tremendous job beclowning Spragins and Tucker while simultaneously laying bare State Farm’s sleazy methods of cheating  their homeless policyholders:

Minor testified he found Tucker’s instructions confusing and inconsistent with his (Minor’s) understanding of his responsibilities as an appraiser. Minor’s confusion and uncertainty concerning Tucker’s instructions were sufficient to prompt him to ask that Tucker either provide his instructions in writing or furnish a modified court order reflecting those instructions. Tucker declined Minor’s request for either of these forms of clarification. Although Tucker attended the evidentiary hearing, he did not take the witness stand to clarify or contradict what Minor had to say about their conversation.

Minor’s dissatisfaction was such that he asked Tucker to hire another appraiser and relieve him (Minor) of his responsibilities in this case. Tucker refused this request. Minor turned to Land and to other State Farm representatives for assistance in understanding his instructions, and Minor ultimately came away with the understanding he was to follow his ordinary practices in performing this appraisal. Minor testified that is exactly what he did.

After meeting together to discuss the damage they observed during the joint inspection of the plaintiffs’ residence, the members of the panel, at Minor’s instance, agreed all damage below the water line on the second floor would be excluded from consideration in the appraisal. The plaintiffs contended some of the damage below the Case 1:08-cv-00577-LTS-RHW Document 85 Filed 08/17/2009 Page 4 of 10 water line was attributable to covered wind and rain damage rather than exclusively to flooding, but plaintiffs’ representative, O’Leary, nevertheless agreed to exclude this damage from consideration. After discussing the damages they observed above the second-story water line, Minor, O’Leary, and Voelpel unanimously agreed the total covered loss was $174,881.80. The three members of the panel all signed a report reflecting this conclusion…….. Continue reading “Well here is another nice mess you’ve gotten me into Part Deux: Judge Senter lowers the boom on the topic of State Farm’s cancerous Katrina claims handling. Slabbed Congratulates Henry and June Kuehn”

Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into – Kuehn files Motion in limine to exclude Spragins and Tucker

laurel and hardy

Plaintiffs would show that any testimony that may be offered by Defendant’s counsel, H. Scot Spragins or Lawrence J. Tucker, should be prohibited and/or excluded. State Farm previously stated…that “State Farm’s counsel is not the only source of the information Plaintiffs seek. Moreover, any information they possesses [sic] is not relevant or crucial to the central issues in this case, i.e., the actual conduct of the appraisal and the propriety of the award.”

…Of course, if Tucker and Spragins did have pertinent information, they and their law firm would be properly disqualified as counsel. However, based on State Farm’s representations, this Court denied (without prejudice) Plaintiffs’ Motion to Disqualify Counsel. Because Plaintiffs were thus disallowed from taking the testimony of Spragins and Tucker, they cannot now be allowed to come forward and testify in the evidentiary hearing scheduled before this Court on July 22, 2009…

SLABBED first reported the “fine mess” created by Spragins and Tucker Continue reading “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into – Kuehn files Motion in limine to exclude Spragins and Tucker”

Henry and June plus Lewis and Scot: An Appraisal Story and Kuehn Update Prequel

I’ve kept fairly quiet since late April on Kuehn v State Farm, a case with a little something for everyone. We have the appraisal clause and State Farm ignoring it. We have a typical State Farm hired gun lawyer in Scot Spragins of Oxford Mississippi and the spectacle of Scot beclowing himself before an audience of political leaders, fellow lawyers and academics across the country as we profile his unethical behavior and abuses of the court system.

The Farm doesn’t break in litigation nor follow their contractual obligations easily and though I’ve been relatively absent here on the blog I’ve been loading up for bear on the concept of appraisal and how State Farm’s treatment of their own contract language in this case illustrates their bad behavior better than most. But before I post a comprehensive update I’d like to point out that just like Rossie’s New Appleman piece on Anti Concurrent Causation is the legal standard on the ACCs meaning and application, the book, The Law and Procedure of Insurance Appraisal by Jonathan J Wilkofsky Continue reading “Henry and June plus Lewis and Scot: An Appraisal Story and Kuehn Update Prequel”