Lawyers: E-mails prove case against State Farm

[intheflow]

Source: Biloxi Sun-Herald

New Orleans - Attorneys for homeowners suing State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. have long accused the insurer of pressuring engineers to alter reports on Hurricane Katrina-damaged homes so that claims could be denied.

(snip)

The e-mail also says King didn't want local engineers to inspect properties because they were "too emotionally involved" and were "working very hard to find justifications to call it wind damage when the facts only show water induced damage." She was also apparently upset that a report was based upon eyewitness accounts, the e-mail said.

In a reply dated Oct. 18, 2005, Down questioned the insurer's motivations and questioned if there was an ethical problem with State Farm telling the firm what to put in reports. He also suggested that on another occasion, State Farm asked the firm to remove information from a report because "they would then have to settle."

"I really question the ethics of someone who wants to fire us simply because our conclusions don't match hers," Down wrote in an e-mail dated Oct. 18, 2005.

(more)

Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/218/story/29233.html


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Although this is datelined New Orleans, this story is about State Farm's criminal (lack of) response to Mississippi claims.

[Suich]

1. Aren't e-mails great???

In the old days, we used to write stuff on paper, which eventually got thrown away.

I'm amazed at the number of people, like those in the current administration, who think that once you delete something, it's gone forever.

:)