State Farm Moves to Disqualify Scruggs
State Farm, on June 19, 2007 moved the court to remove Scruggs and his firm off a case for alleged ethical violations, including the use of "stolen" State Farm documents. The motion to disqualify Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, his Oxford, Miss. law firm and the Scruggs Katrina Group was filed in Mississippi three days after Judge Acker asked the U.S. attorney there to prosecute Mr. Scruggs for criminal contempt.
State Farm filed its motion in a case brought by a Biloxi, Miss., couple--Thomas and Pamela McIntosh--who are disputing the insurer’s engineering report concerning the amount of Hurricane Katrina damage to their home.
According to the insurer, Kerry Rigsby worked on the McIntosh claim, and the Rigsby sisters "stole thousands of State Farm’s confidential documents"--including an engineering report on the McIntosh case--and gave them to Mr. Scruggs.
Mr. Scruggs, "in turn, rewarded the sisters for their cooperation by paying them an annual salary of $150,000 each to serve as ‘litigation consultants’ for him and his associates at the Scruggs Katrina Group…"
The insurer also argued Mr. Scruggs is prevented from representing a party in a proceeding where he is likely to have to testify. In the McIntosh case, State Farm said he has knowledge of exculpatory facts that bear directly on that claim.
State Farm, in its papers, contends it did not make its move lightly, but deposition testimony, public statements and other evidence shows Mr. Scruggs committed "repeated ethical violations and traduced the Federal Rules," making State Farm’s attorney "duty bound to bring these issues to the attention of the court." We will report the results of this motion when we learn of it.
Barry Zalma
http://www.zalma.com
