State Farm files motion to disqualify Mississippi law firm from Katrina lawsuit

State Farm lawyers today filed a motion in the U.S. District Court in southern Mississippi that if accepted would disqualify attorney Richard F. Scruggs, his law firm, the Scruggs Katrina Group and affiliate firms from representing plaintiffs in McIntosh v. State Farm. Details may also be found in a Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Disqualify.

“Mr. Scruggs blatantly, seriously and repeatedly departed from the standard of conduct that would be followed by a lawyer of ordinary care and prudence,” said Professor Charles W. Wolfram, a nationally-recognized expert in the field of legal ethics, a former acting dean of Cornell Law School and author of Modern Legal Ethics, who is quoted in State Farm’s motion. For more information, please read Professor Wolfram’s entire declaration.

On June 15, U.S. District Judge William M. Acker requested that an attorney for the government prosecute Mr. Scruggs and his law firm for criminal contempt for willfully violating the court's Dec. 8, 2006, preliminary injunction in a Hurricane Katrina insurance dispute. For more information, please read the Memorandum Opinion. On July 27, Judge Acker named Charles E. Sharp and Joel Williams to serve as special prosecutors after U.S. Attorney Alice Martin declined the judge's request to prosecute Scruggs and his firm. This development only further supports our motion to disqualify Mr. Scruggs from the McIntosh case.

McIntosh Background
McIntosh v. State Farm is a case resulting from damage in Mississippi related to Hurricane Katrina. The plaintiffs in the case, whose home was insured by State Farm, contend State Farm chose to reject an engineering report indicating moderate damage to their home was due to wind, and instead chose to evaluate their claim based on an engineering report indicating the majority of damage was due to flooding.