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July 29, 2010 |
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| September 18, 2008 |
By: Julie Kay |
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ne of the key cases brought by disgraced Mississippi attorney Dickie Scruggs against State Farm Insurance to demonstrate the carrier's alleged bad faith in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has been settled and dismissed.
The two-year-old case of Thomas and Pamela McIntosh was dismissed at their request on Monday following State Farm's disclosure of a $250,000 settlement with the family. That amount is about 25% of what they had sought in their breach-of-contract suit.
The McIntoshes filed suit against State Farm and later, Alabama claim company E.A. Renfroe, alleging that the two committed fraud by refusing to properly compensate them for damage to their home and deliberately underestimating wind damage. McIntosh v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., No. 1:06CV1080-LTS-RHW (S.D. Miss.)
To argue his case, Scruggs used internal documents provided by two sisters who had worked for Renfroe before going to work for Scruggs.
The McIntosh case was cited on the floor of Congress as evidence of post-Katrina bad faith by State Farm and the insurance industry.
Scruggs has since pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a judge in a separate fee dispute case.
State Farm wasted no time in issuing a press release touting the settlement and slamming Scruggs for "making up allegations to launch a public relations plan to lure politicians, the media and others into publicly attacking State Farm."
"Closure of the McIntosh case should put an end to allegations State Farm acted in a dishonorable way in the handling of this particular claim," stated the press release.
But the McIntoshes' attorney, William F. Merlin Jr. of the Merlin Law Group of Tampa, Fla., called the press release "extraordinarily one-sided" and noted that he has many other Katrina cases still pending against State Farm.
"It appears they're trying to villify Dickie Scruggs into a scapegoat for all the other thousands of cases still out there," Merlin said. "There were thousands of lawsuits that were brought, and in the vast majority of those situations, policyholders [got] significantly less than they should have gotten, from State Farm and other insurance companies.
"Don't read too much into one issue," he added. "They're whitewashing some of the bigger issues."
Merlin said he settled only because his key evidence — documents from the Rigby sisters — was disallowed.
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