Tag: Weatherly v State Farm

Pass the popcorn (and the Rebel Yell)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfAme2xjYTY]

The plaintiff’s property was located on the Jordan River in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi which endured the pounding winds of hurricane Katrina’s northeast side for hours before the eye wall crossed it and then endured many more hours of wind after the eye passed. Eventually, storm covered the property, but not before the property endured the maximum sustained winds well as one of the longest periods of sustained hurricane force winds in recorded history. During this onslaught, their entire property was destroyed on August 29, 2005, and the plaintiff’s lost all of their personal possessions located upon the premises as well. [See photo as Exhibit A].

Plaintiff’s reported their loss to State Farm, through its national call center while they were still evacuated in Northwest Louisiana. State Farm eventually assigned adjuster, Heather Keyt, an inexperienced adjuster to adjust the plaintiff’s claims. Ms. Keyt quickly recommended that the claim be denied without supporting evidence except for a alleged report by the plaintiff on the cause of the loss being storm surge

….when asked to explain how she came to determine that the house was a total loss due to flood, Ms. Keyt’s consistent and yet unreliable “fact” was a description made in the initial claim recorded by State Farm at its national call center received immediately following Hurricane Katrina. This section of the claim file that maintained the initial information is referred to as the “Facts” section. [Exhibit F].

Mark Flores, one of the insureds and a joint owner of the home, made the initial reporting of the claim. Mark Flores was evacuated to Natchitoches, Louisiana, approximately 40 miles from the Texas border, at the time he made the call to make a claim, and could not have known the cause of the loss of his home. [Exhibit G; Mark Flores depo., pp. 13-14]. Continue reading “Pass the popcorn (and the Rebel Yell)”

Weatherly v State Farm: The Farm tried to quash the Beno recordings

But alas those damming transcripts I posted late yesterday and today were ruled relevant by Judge Fallon. Personally I hope, should Congress hold hearings in conjunction with the reauthorization of the NFIP, that Ms Beno be called to DC to further illuminate and expand on what she told the Weatherly’s PI. I don’t know how much but I strongly suspect this case settled out for many times over the Weatherly’s policy limits to keep the certain to be bad jury verdict out of the media. So while we don’t have a verdict on the record we do have the phone transcripts and tapes which should never be confused with an illegal wiretap. Continue reading “Weatherly v State Farm: The Farm tried to quash the Beno recordings”

A view from the inside of State Farm’s call center Part Deux: “you just always had the feeling that something wasn

The people on the post Katrina coast had the same feeling though it was not confined to State Farm as we continue with the transcript of the Weatherly family’s PI’s talk with former State Farm call center employee / insurance adjuster Lorrie Beno:

A. You know, and I ran it on my house here just to see, because I just built a house and I thought that thing is coming in really high, I don’t have enough insurance on my house and it was pricing it a lot more to rebuild it, but they were – I don’t know. They wanted to pay them off on those policies. They said things to us like we got to get money into these people’s hands, it’s going to take a while to get to these wind policies, we’ve got to get some money in their hands, and that’s what they did, they paid them off on the flood, and we all kind of rolled our eyes, because we were going yeah, you want to get money into their hands that belongs to someone else, you know, as long as someone else is paying the bill, it’s good.I don’t know, you know, there were a lot of people at State Farm that were really good, honest, people, but you just always had the feeling that something wasn’t right there. I don’t trust the carriers anyways, I never have.

The public has definitely caught on to the not trusting insurer thang after their outrageous behavior here after the storm. With the first interview concluded and the PI finding Ms Beno quite the honest, open and chatty type, after consultation with the Weatherly’s legal team, a second phone call was in order and it is there we pick back up: Continue reading “A view from the inside of State Farm’s call center Part Deux: “you just always had the feeling that something wasn”

A view from the inside of State Farm’s call center: “I think the companies screw over people regularly.” Lorrie Beno, Welcome to Slabbed

Q. …….Would you be willing to chat with him briefly about this? He just has a much better grip on the issues in this case and I think that it would be more helpful to him to talk directly to you.

A. Wow. I’m kind of torn here. I do this – I’m in this business because I like to see that people get every dime they’re entitled to and that’s what gives me satisfaction in this job. I think the companies screw over people regularly. On the other hand, I have had my neighbor suing me for four years on an easement that’s been in existence since 1920. I have been abused by a whole number of attorneys including the judge who likes to keep his docket padded and that’s why we’re in this situation.

Q. I understand.

A. So right now, I have really had my fill of attorneys and don’t care to help one out. I wouldn’t help one cross a busy street right now.

The litigants on the post katrina coast know exactly where State Farm adjuster Lorrie Beno is coming from with those remarks which were transcribed from the recording of the phone coversations she had with a private investigator hired by the Weatherly family in their fight against State Farm. We seen our fair share of judges (mostly former insurance defense lawyers) who don’t follow the law or abuse elderly policyholders like Magistrate Walker has Mrs Politz in her suit against Nationwide. We’ve seen lawyers with questionable ethics like Scot Spragins and his sidekick Lucky Tucker of Hickman, Goza and Spragins abuse the court system and flaunt court orders earning fees from State Farm. I could go on and on giving many other examples but let’s visit back with Miss Beno as she describes how State Farm adjusted flood claims:

A. I don’t know how it was handled on the wind at all.

Q. Um-hum.

A. The only thing I can tell him, which he probably already knows, is find out that adjustor has been an adjustor.

Q. Right.

A. Because of the laws that are made that people are screaming to see their adjustor immediately, they hire off the street and give them some little short training course and make them an adjustor and get them a temporary license and send them out. Continue reading “A view from the inside of State Farm’s call center: “I think the companies screw over people regularly.” Lorrie Beno, Welcome to Slabbed”