NU Online News Service, June 25, 2:36 p.m. EDT

A judge in the Southern District of Mississippi has given State Farm and two sisters accusing it of defrauding the U.S government more than nine months to prepare for a trial after six years of litigious backbiting.

The latest entry of about 950 in the case's docket report since whistleblowers Cori and Kerri Rigsby filed a well-publicized False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit against State Farm in April 2006 sets a trial date of March 25, 2013.

Judge Halil S. Ozerden also set a settlement conference date in January 2013 and a pretrial conference in February next year.

The Rigsbys, former independent claims adjusters, allege State Farm doctored engineering reports after Hurricane Katrina so it could allegedly send losses to the National Flood Insurance Program. Flood and storm surge losses are not covered by a standard homeowners' insurance policy.

Earlier this month Ozerden ruled on the last of the pretrial motions in the case, denying State Farm's latest request to dismiss the lawsuit the Rigsbys' request to expand its scope.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.