In September of 2005, Jim Hood filed a lawsuit against several major Gulf Coast property insurers in the Chancery Court of Hinds County, asking that either the wind/water exclusions in their policies be construed to cover the water surge or that the water exclusions be ruled unenforceable.
The case bounced around a lot– almost as if no judge really wanted to hear it. It spent some time in Hinds Chancery, some time in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, and ultimately got sent to Rankin County. Even there, it bounced around a bit before landing on the desk of Chancellor John Grant. Meanwhile, in 2007, State Farm had settled out of the case, leaving Nationwide, USAA, Mississippi Farm Bureau, and Allstate as defendants.
These cases in state court have a way of sinking like a stone as far as public awareness is concerned, particularly if they end in a way that isn’t in the interest of someone with an interest in grandstanding to make a large deal out of how they end up. Without tools like Pacer, it’s particularly hard to follow these things to their conclusion, most of all in outlying counties. So I wondered what became of that case off-and-on last year when following the Katrina litigation and understanding the State Farm settlements as a key part of following the ins and outs of Scruggs I.
Well, now (thanks to YallPolitics) we know. On December 22nd, the Chancery Court of Rankin County tossed the whole case, ruling (here‘s a pdf of the opinion) that the policy language is clear, it excludes water with clarity, it’s perfectly legal to have such language in policies (that is, the policy language is not unconscionable), and, furthermore, Jim Hood had no business meddling in this (that is, he lacked standing to bring the suit). That last ruling might suggest there is little precedential value in the other rulings (if the plaintiff had no standing, what else is there to talk about), but that pretty much does it for Attorney General Hood’s pursuit of the insurance companies.
As I recall, there were some quarters where the thinking was that somehow, someway Attorney General Hood had at least secretly won some aspect of this case against State Farm. I’m thinking not.
H/t to Alan at YallPolitics, who takes this as an obvious opportunity to thump Jim Hood around a bit.
Good ole Alan, Y’all Politics, and its Mississippi faithful, where every day is May 16, 1954 ….
The year Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA National Capital Golf Open?
The year of Brown v. Board of Education, ceece.
Yeah, I was just poking around to see what else happened that day…I had never heard of Babe Didrikson-Zaharias before 2.30 this afternoon.
May 17 was the day Brown was reported. May 16 was the last day of the 19th Century for Mississippi.
I hate it when I have to ‘splain ‘em.
Poor ceece, missing out on Babe D-Z and all kinds of other great stories, just cuz he’s not antique enough.
Ahhhh, the golf knowledge one can learn while at work…
Well, ain’t that special? I put some relevant data out about the AG and a hurricane case and it magically gets spun into the thinly veiled implication that me, my website and my users are somehow frothing racists stuck in the 50′s. That’s real sporty. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.
If someone can tie how Brown vs. BOE factors into my posts on this subject, you are obviously on acid or should be writing Jim Hood’s court motions.
Fortunately, Lotus has (a knife in) my back. I guess no good deed or amount of assistance I have provided her in the past goes unpunished.
With friends like FOLO’ers . . . oh, nevermind.
The question was never the legitimacy of the flood exclusion. Rather the question was the good faith application of it when damage was caused by both wind and flooding and it was not possible to clearly distinguish between the two.
Almost three and a half years after Katrina we still do not have a bright-line ruling that says whether the insurance company has to prove that the loss was caused by flooding in order to invoke the flood exclusion or can toss that burden off to the policyholder. We also don’t have a definitive ruling about good faith adjustment where wind almost certainly caused substantial damage before any flooding, but when the flooding came hours later, it caused additional damage and sloshed around and scattered the evidence.
So we had insurers assume flooding as the cause where it was at all possible and force the policyholders to prove otherwise. That gave the insurers the benefit of the doubt to avoid billions of dollars of losses where the cause was uncertain. State Farm adjusters told the Insurance Department ridiculous things such as, “If water touched it, we don’t pay,” yet the MID twisted itself into knots to avoid finding any fraud it that.
Hehlo? Alan, why you fussing at me? If you want to fuss at Ben Cole, feel free. I do all the time.
Alan, if you’re talking about the comment in #1, that wasn’t Lotus.
Just as an aside, I have no problem with you thumping Jim Hood about the head when circumstances warrant it. I don’t think there’s a single category that makes up “FOLO’ers.”
“If someone can tie how Brown vs. BOE factors into my posts on this subject, you are obviously on acid or should be writing Jim Hood’s court motions.”
LOL. I just about spit my coffee onto the computer screen reading this from Alan. Great retort and I agree.
Well, afotl, since Alan seems to have gone into catatonia or something, maybe you can explain how I got hauled into this?
I don’t know either, Lotus. Maybe Alan and Ben got together and are now doing the same acid. LOL.
Has anyone ever actually seen or met “Ben Cole”. I am beginning to suspect that he is one and the same as columnist Bill Minor, since both can find an old, negative MS civil rights era connection to just about any current topic. Ha.
I’m confused. Does the Flat Earth Society has a website called Yallpolitics?
Will the Clarion-Ledger do a big splashy story on this? Do they have to call Trent Lott first and ask if it’s OK to do so, given that it might not cast Dickie in the best light?
Dunno, did Bill Minor spend a lot of time in Navy airplanes and know this debutante from Corpus Christi (or was it Galveston, ah fergit)?
No, Bill Minor was a destroyer sailor. Wrong war, afotl, but an amusing speculation.
I suspect I have seen Ben Cole, but am not sure I am at liberty to divulge more. In any event, I have a relatively strong conviction that he does in fact exist.
Alan: It was just an electronic wedgie. Geez Louise. What good is a Republican if you can’t give him a noogie or a wedgie occasionally? The reaction is always so predictable and funny. They never let me down.
AFOTL: Trust me … there was no “positive” Mississippi news during the civil right era. Moreover, everything that happens in our beloved state has a racial tendril.
Am I giving folo a bad reputation? I just enjoy popping off an electonic spitball occasionally … especially when I know the kind of reflexive jerk it will produce. Lemme send myself to detention.
Ben Cole, as those who know all internet traditions are aware, spitballs are an integral part of this thing. No detention needed.
To throw a spitball and have the return sideswipe sit someone who for once was sitting quietly and minding her own business lent some excitement to the whole thing.
Ben Cole in #20: Everyone note that he completely ignored the existential question.
Noted, NMC 22. Also the “for once” gave me a good giggle. Too bad Alan’s indisposed with the vapors or we could thank him for livenin’ up our afternoon.
I’ll go on to detention … I never ducked the natural consequences of my delinquencies.
But I’m gonna break out the whoopie cushion next time. Or fill the Chiklets pack with chewable ExLax.
I’m the kid your parents always told you to avoid.
As the Character loosely based on the Swamp fox played by Mel Gipson in the Movie The Patriot says at the start of a great battle between the confused and vastly overmatched colonial army and the British Regulars comanded by the capable Cornwallis,
This battle was over before it began.
But here is to all the trial lawyers that fought against snake farms army and their friends on and the 5th Circuit anyway. Never lost a case, but the war was over before it started. These warriors and the juries that saw these cases know what really happened with the wind water protocal, etc. May God protect us all, cause you can bet your ass you are screwed with these guys should a major diaster wipe your home from the face of the earth.
Happy Lurker @ 15 – ROFLMAO!
Ben . . . heh heh heh. The overreaction you got from at least one direction was, um, interesting. What else can I say? Is there room in detention for me, too?
Ben sez “I’m the kid your parents always told you to avoid.”
Ben, you’re the kid, when I was teaching 4th grade, I always had trouble keeping a straight face in front of when having to discipline.
GlitterGirl, does that mean that Ben behaves likes a 4th grader?
I dunno about now, nomiss-guess it depends on if he really does break out the whoopie cushion and dispense ExLaz laden Chicklets.