Supreme Court to hear State Farm case over Hurricane Katrina fraud claim

[Eugene]

Last edited Tue May 31, 2016, 02:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal by State Farm contesting a jury finding that the insurance company defrauded the federal government when assessing damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

The court will review a 2015 ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the verdict in a suit brought under the federal False Claims Act, which lets people sue over allegations that the government has been defrauded.

The court will consider a lawsuit brought by sisters Cori and Kerri Rigsby, former claims adjusters who worked with State Farm after the hurricane. People win a portion of the damages if such a False Claims Act suit is successful.

The jury found that the U.S. government had been defrauded of $250,000 over a house that had sustained Katrina-related damage in Biloxi, Mississippi.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-statefarm-idUSKCN0YM1OM

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Politics | Tue May 31, 2016 12:27pm EDT
WASHINGTON | BY LAWRENCE HURLEY

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EDIT: article updated at link

Original headline: U.S. top court to hear State Farm case over Hurricane Katrina fraud claim

[enlightenment]

1. Fascinating, well researched, and

(to my ears) balanced investigative report of this and other, related, issues on Frontline:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/business-of-disaster/

[trudyco]

2. Only got to see about 3/4 of the frontline program. Did they ever figure out

if the private insurance companies were committing fraud? The government should either take back FEMA administration or have a cap on the percentage of premiums private insurance companies can take as total overhead. I guess they did say that part of the push back was from the US government itself.