Like A Good Neighbor

State Farm gets the message. LATimes (07.07.07):

"Two Mississippi attorneys who won a punitive damages verdict against State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. over destruction from Hurricane Katrina said Friday that they had settled other pending cases.

Biloxi attorney Jack Denton said he and attorney William C. Walker Jr. settled 20 State Farm cases Friday."

Mississippi lawyers settle 20 State Farm cases

Why is State Farm all of a sudden settling these left and right? Bloomberg (01.11.07):

"State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. must pay a Mississippi couple $2.7 million for the loss of their property, a judge and jury ruled in a test case over how much Hurricane Katrina damage is covered by insurance.

The judge, deciding actual damages without the jury, awarded $223,292 for the home and belongings of Norman and Genevieve Broussard of Biloxi, Mississippi."

State Farm Must Pay Couple $2.7 Million for Katrina

"The jury awarded punitive damages of $2.5 million for State Farm's improper conduct in processing the claim, half of the couple's $5 million request."

The judge in Broussard entered a directed verdict against State Farm, as in the judge determined that no reasonable jury could reach any other decision.

Sounds like the Broussard decision got State Farm's attention. Big-time.