Rigsby sisters - Misplaced Pages

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Kerri Rigsby and Cori Rigsby (Moran) are sisters who worked for eight years at the E.A. Renfroe Company and were managers overseeing catastrophe claims adjusters before their dismissal. The company is based in Birmingham, AL; but the sisters are from Mississippi and were dispatched to catastrophe sites. Through Renfroe, they were surrogates of State Farm tasked to help evaluate claims along the severely battered Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. As they visited numerous properties and reviewed many documents they allege they became aware of instructions issued to engineering firms to alter reports. The sisters claim State Farm ignored or minimized wind damage to avoid payments – the company denies this. Over the course of several months, the sisters amassed thousands of pages of documents related to State Farm's activities. According to court documents the sisters took the documents without authorization. Their work in regard to these documents is the subject of ongoing legal action. Eventually, their story went public when ABC's 20/20 show aired it in August 2006.

The Documents

The sisters say they ultimately obtained about 15,000 pages of claims records. Their collection of these documents is the subject of ongoing legal action. Their former employer has filed suit in Alabama asking that the court order the return of the documents. The suit claims the sisters took the documents without permission or authorization.

The 20/20 broadcast of the Rigsby sisters story brought new media attention to potential Katrina related fraud. In their interviews, Kerri and Cori were quoted as saying “A lot of people were cheated,” and they believed the alteration of documents and engineering reports was 'widespread.' The 20/20 piece also interviewed an unsatisfied policyholder. He stated it took three engineering reports to conclude the damage was only water, but he knew it was the third report because State Farm inadvertently sent him the two previous reports that concluded the damage was from wind and water – a protocol where State Farm would have had to make a payment.

The Rigsby sisters alleged this was not an isolated incident, but a widespread campaign by State Farm to pressure engineers to issue certain types of reports to reduce State Farm's liability. State Farm representatives in Bloomington, IL, the home office, say what the women describe would be contrary to the company's claims practices.

E.A. Renfroe

E.A. Renfroe, the company that contracted with State Farm Insurance Co., sued the Rigsby sisters on September 1, 2006. It alleged in its lawsuit that Cori and Kerri Rigsby broke the law when they turned over reams of internal State Farm records to attorney Richard Scruggs. Renfroe's lawsuit, filed in an Alabama federal court, accused the sisters of violating the Alabama Trade Secrets Act and breaching confidentiality agreements with the company. Renfroe asked a judge to order the Rigsby sisters to return the documents they presented Scruggs and to bar them from continuing to disclose information.

In Court

November 2006

Attorney General Jim Hood's office argued the suit, E.A. Renfroe & Co. Inc. v. Moran, No. 06-CV-1752, should be suspended until the Mississippi Attorney General's office completed its criminal investigation into post-Katrina insurance claims practices. They claimed the government's case could be compromised if the civil case continued.

Insurance Commissioner George Dale: Dale launched his own investigation of the insurance industry and began with State Farm because they were the biggest insurance company in Mississippi. Dale claimed he was spurred on by policyholder complaints aired on local television.

December 2006

Federal Judge William Acker Jr. requires the Rigsby sisters to return the documents to E.A. Renfroe.

January 2007

The Rigsby sisters testify for the Mississippi Attorney General before a Mississippi grand jury about what they saw while working as claims adjusters after Hurricane Katrina.

In Alabama, Judge Acker orders the sisters to show why they should not be held in contempt of his order in December 2006 as they had yet to turn over the documents. Acker also requires Scruggs and the Scruggs law firm to show why they should not be held in civil contempt.

In a court hearing on January 31st, E.A. Renfroe's attorney requested the Rigsby sisters and their representation face civil and criminal charges for their actions.

Results

In February 2007, Mississippi state senators Dawkins and Williamson submitted a resolution, Mississippi Senate Concurrent Resolution 574, ,to the state legislature commending the Rigsby sisters for their actions. The resolution died in committee and the Rigsbys garnered no formal recognition by the legislature.

Media Coverage

External links

E.A. Renfroe & Co. Inc. v. Moran; No. 06-1752 (N.D. Ala.).

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