The Beck story does an excellent job of cataloging some of Scruggs’ failures, and it’s ultimate conclusion seems to be that Scruggs is an idealistic guy with often poor judgment in case selection who scored big because of a few lucky confluences of events. If his reputation was ever deserved, the story seems to say, it is behind-the-times — sort of like an NFL lineman who keeps getting voted to the All-Pro team long after his skills have degraded to the point he is just an above average player.
Maybe. But this theory fails to recognize that Scruggs was in large part responsible for creating a hostile legal climate for insurance companies in Katrina litigation, and it fails to account for his Katrina success long after his “prime” was supposedly over. And I’m not sure I see Scruggs as idealistic as that term is commonly used — opportunistic might be a better word, opportunistic in looking for a good storyline and a good opening to make money. Also, if Scruggs was in large part the product of luck and unique circumstances, that would place him in the same boat as the rest of humanity — whom could we look at and say this is not true?
Insurance Coverage Blog
3/10/8
