UPDATE: Mississippi Jury Finds State Farm Defrauded NFIP After Katrina
Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/04/08/4579415/jury-finds-state-farm-committed.html#storylink=cpyA federal judge in Mississippi has dismissed a part of a claim brought by two former independent insurance agents accusing State Farm of defrauding the federal government with two engineering firms.
State Farm has been involved in a whistleblower trial since March 25 brought by sisters Cori and Kerri Rigsby, who claim the insurer doctored engineering reports following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in order to show damage was caused by storm surge, not wind.
Flooding—storm surge included—is not covered by a standard homeowners policy. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) handles flood risk.
The case has been narrowed to one home owned by Thomas and Pamela McIntoch—the only home in which the Rigsbys have firsthand knowledge, a judge has ruled.
On April 5 Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden ruled the Rigsbys “have presented insufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that State Farm's alleged co-conspirators shared a specific intent to defraud the government.”
After both sides presented and rested their cases, State Farm filed a motion for dismissal on the grounds the Rigsbys “have not proffered any legally sufficient evidence from which the jury could reasonably determine State Farm is liable to the government on any aspect of their case,” says court documents filed by the insurer.
Suleyman agreed with the insurer when it came to the conspiracy charges but denied a part of the motion. Therefore, a jury this week will deliberate on charges State Farm submitted a false claim on the McIntosh home to the NFIP and manufactured a report to support the claim.
NFIP administrators and a flood inspector have testified State Farm properly paid the McIntosh claim in compliance with policies and procedures of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which oversees the NFIP.
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