Friday, the New York Times ran an article on attorney Dickie Scruggs, most recently known for his battles against State Farm in lawsuits arising from their handling of Katrina claims in Mississippi.
Mr. Scruggs conceded he has used “every trick in the book” to gain advantage over the insurers.
“This is very personal,” he said. “This is about my family, my friends, the people I grew up with. I wake up at 3:30 every morning thinking of ways to get at this thing.” [...]
Mr. Scruggs said his first objective in his latest legal battle was to help people get back on their feet. But he also wanted to tilt the balance of power in insurance more toward the customer.
In hopes of getting stricter regulation, he has quietly begun campaigning to replace George Dale as commissioner of insurance in Mississippi and he is pushing insurers to rewrite their policies in plain English.
While I disagree with his attempts to rewrite insurance contracts after the fact, I do have to salute the guy for doing such an excellent job in outmanuvering the industry in the public relations campaign surrounding the legal activity. Sometimes, insurers forget that the world outside their marble towers is an irrational one, driven by emotion and swayed by words. Scruggs certainly played that weakness to his advantage.
“Commissioner Scruggs”? That has the sound that would fit California or Massachusetts better, I think.
The NYT article is also pointed to at Point of Law and at Insurance Coverage Blog.
Point of Law detects a bit of bias in the NYT piece:
For example, the profile does not consider it newsworthy that Scruggs is due in court next week to answer contempt charges relating to his handling of much-trumpeted adjustment documents which are said to show that State Farm over-scrutinized claims of wind damage. Those who read a WSJ editorial on Thursday were aware that this coming Wednesday, March 21, federal judge William M. Acker Jr., in Alabama has scheduled a hearing on whether Scruggs should be held in contempt for having arranged with his pal, Mississippi AG Jim Hood, to shuffle some of the papers into Hood’s possession in order to evade an injunction requiring their return.
Somehow, I suspect that Attorney General Hood and the residents of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast wouldn’t let such an, um, technicality taint their opinion of Mr. Scruggs.