Judge refuses to bar lawyer from State Farm cases

Associated Press - September 12, 2007 8:44 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A federal judge today refused to bar an attorney from representing dozens of Mississippi homeowners who are suing Bloomington- (Illinois) based State Farm for denying their claims after Hurricane Katrina.

U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter chided State Farm for waiting more than a year to ask for attorney Richard Scruggs to be disqualified because of alleged ethical violations.

Senter, who expressed no opinion on the merits of the alleged ethics violations, said he is "at a loss to understand why State Farm has waited so long" to raise the issue.

State Farm accuses Scruggs of improperly using internal company records he obtained from two women who helped the insurer adjust Katrina claims on Mississippi's Gulf Coast.

Scruggs contends the documents support his allegation that State Farm manipulated engineering reports to fraudulently deny policyholder claims.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Associated Press story published on September 12, 2007, here.



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