Reports indicate that District Court Judge Halil S. Ozerden, sitting in the Southern District of Mississippi, is ready to set the trial date in the Rigsby case. If you have not followed the litigation, Chip Merlin wrote about the case in his posts, State Farm Whistle-Blower Suit Regarding Altered Expert Reports Continues and Thoughts Regarding State Farm Rigsby Qui Tam and the Speed of the Oil Spill.
Sisters Kerry and Cori Rigsby, who worked for State Farm as independent adjusters, brought an action against State Farm in a False Claims Act lawsuit in 2006. The Rigsby sisters claim that the federal government paid more than it owed in National Flood payments because State Farm altered engineering reports and made outcome oriented adjustments, which maximized flood related damaged so that the amounts paid under State Farm policies would be minimized.
Slabbed has followed this case closely, and PropertyCasualty360.com reported on Thursday that State Farm’s fourth motion to dismiss the case was denied. Judge Ozerden upheld many prior rulings made by the late Judge Senter, who previously presided over the case. Chip Merlin posted tribute several times to Judge Senter in A Judge That Gets It, A Tribute to Hurricane Katrina Judge Senter, and Hurricane Katrina Judge, L.T. Senter, Died.
You may remember the ABC News 20/20 report on the Rigsby sisters from back in 2006. In the report, the Rigsby sisters say they saw widespread fraud at the State Farm offices in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi.
After six year of the litigation, the Rigsby sisters will soon go to trial and attempt to prove State Farm doctored engineering reports after Hurricane Katrina so it could allegedly shift its losses to the National Flood Insurance Program. We will keep you posted as the case progresses.
