Centerpiece Of Dickie Scruggs’ Flawed Katrina Legal Strategy Settled Out Of Court
Just days after attorneys for Thomas and Pamela McIntosh of Biloxi, Miss., acknowledged State Farm handled their claim properly and admitted there was “no credible evidence” State Farm engaged in bad faith, a compromise settlement has been reached over insured damages to the McIntosh home for $250,000 which is less than 25 percent of the amount the McIntoshes alleged as damages in their breach of contract suit. This brings an end to McIntosh v State Farm, a case that well-known litigator Dickie Scruggs, now serving a five-year sentence in a federal penitentiary for bribing a judge, used to call into question the integrity of State Farm and the insurance industry.
The motion for dismissal was filed by the McIntoshes’ current attorneys, Tina Nicholson and William F. Merlin, Jr., of the Merlin Law Group, on Sept. 7, 2008. U.S. District Judge L. T. Senter, Jr., granted the order for dismissal, Sept. 8, 2008.
The company noted that the McIntoshes’ former attorney Dickie Scruggs made up allegations in this lawsuit to launch a public relations plan to lure politicians, the media and others into publicly attacking State Farm. This was a tactic that diverted precious time and resources away from resolving Katrina claims.
“Dick once said he used every trick in the book, political, public opinion, and legal to force State Farm to pay him money. This case was his centerpiece,” said State Farm Senior Vice President and General Counsel Jeff Jackson.
State Farm
9/15/8
Magnolia Tribune
