U.S. top court skeptical toward State Farm hurricane fraud appeal
Source: Reuters
The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared unlikely to throw out a jury verdict against State Farm that found the insurance company defrauded the U.S. government when it assessed damage caused by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf of Mexico coast in 2005.
The eight justices heard arguments in State Farm's challenge to a 2015 lower court ruling upholding the verdict in a 2006 lawsuit brought by two whistleblowers, sisters Cori and Kerri Rigsby, under the False Claims Act, which lets people sue on behalf of the government over allegations it has been defrauded.
The suit accused the Bloomington, Illinois-based company of improperly seeking to foist the costs of covering Katrina-related damage to a Biloxi, Mississippi home onto the government rather than covering the costs itself.
State Farm argued the claims brought by the sisters, former claims adjusters who worked for the company after the hurricane, should be voided because their lawyer violated a court order requiring that details of the case be kept under seal.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-statefarm-idUSKBN12W4RN
U.S. | Tue Nov 1, 2016 | 2:20pm EDT
By Lawrence Hurley | WASHINGTON