Insurance Law

Renfroe seeks inquiry into whether new Katrina counsel associated with Scruggs, KLG

By David Rossmiller

The Disqualification Wars continue. 

First, after an initially unsuccessful effort by State Farm late last year to disqualify Dickie Scruggs from Katrina litigation on ethics grounds, Scruggs in essence disqualified himself on, uh, ethics grounds.  Then State Farm -- with new evidence gained in depositions including further depositions of the "whistleblower" Rigsby sisters, they of the sham consulting agreements featuring no-show or low-show $150,000 jobs from Scruggs, they of the 15 minutes of fame and 30 years of infamy -- successfully moved to disqualify the Scruggs(less) Katrina Group, later known as the Katrina(less) Litigation Group.   Then, of course, we all had a great time when the Trailer Lawyers hit the stage of the Katrina Follies, but regrettably they too were disqualified from the False Claims Act case Ex rel. Rigsby.

(As an aside, I sorely miss the Trailer Lawyers -- Trailer "Snake Farm" Chip and Trailer Tony, Trailer Todd and Trailer Mary -- and I especially miss writing the Trailer Lawyer songs. I'm working on one last song, tentatively entitled Since You Went Away the Trailer's So Quiet I Can Hear My Teardrops Falling.  Well, maybe it's not really the last one, I've got another I'm working on called Don't Park Your Trailer in the Middle of a Snake Farm.  I also have a third song, sung to the tune of that State Farm jingle "like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" -- it starts out "You can hide in your trailer, but Snake Farm is there"). 

Then there were various disqualifications of other firms that tried to step in to represent policyholder former clients of the KLG, but these firms were struck down in the wings before they even hit the floodlights.  Now, the latest broadside is a motion by E.A. Renfroe, the contract claims adjusting firms the Rigsbys were working for when the illicitly took State Farm claims files and gave them to Scruggs.  This particular motion is in the Shows case, which is the RICO folderol  Scruggs filed about this time last year.  I haven't checked other cases, so it might be filed in them too.  The motion asks Judge Senter to consider whether new counsel Provost-Umphrey, a Texas firm recommended by tobacco lawyer Don Barrett, of the late Katrina Litigation Group, to former clients, has ever been "associated" with the KLG in Katrina litigation.  If so, the legal memorandum argues, Provost-Umphrey would have to go (I included the exhibits to the memorandum as part of the link).

The motion is really only a motion to consider whether they are associated counsel -- it admits the facts aren't yet known, but says two other firms that were disqualified were booted only because they self-reported on Katrina litigation links to the KLG.  The Renfroe motion encourages the Provost firm to do the same, points to the firm's own publicity about representing policyholders in Katrina and Rita litigation, and wonders whether that representation included working with the cast of the Katrina Follies.

Paragraph 16 of the memorandum is the key one to read.  Up until that point in the memo, I would have said there is nothing there.  That paragraph, however, makes me want to know more.  It certainly puts pressure on the Provost firm to disclose anything that might resemble the type of association that is covered by Judge Senter's disqualification order. 

Full post as published by Insurance Coverage Law Blog on May 23, 2008 (boomark / email).