Trent Lott Sues State Farm

"Within minutes of Senator John Edwards’ selection by John Kerry as his running mate, the Republicans started their predictable onslaught of attacks on his national security experience and high-profile career as a trial lawyer. * * * Trent Lott (whose wistful, public nostalgia for the days of Jim Crow cost him the Senate majority leadership) called him 'a suing lawyer – that’s S-U-I-N-G lawyer.'"

-- PERRspectives, July 8, 2004

U.S. Senator and former majority leader Trent Lott (R-MI) and his wife today filed suit against State Farm Insurance over its refusal to pay for property damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Anita Lee of the Biloxi Sun Herald has the story:

Lott's brother-in-law, nationally recognized litigator Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, filed the suit Thursday in U.S. District Court on the Lotts' behalf against State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., which holds more than 30 percent of the homeowner's insurance policies in Mississippi.

"I take this action reluctantly after months of good-faith efforts to resolve this matter," said Lott, whose wife, Tricia, also is a plaintiff. "There is no credible argument that there was no wind damage to my home in Pascagoula."

Lott also said in the written news release: "My hope is that this litigation will set a precedent for the thousands of other Mississippi homeowners holding policies for coverage against hurricane wind damage that are not being honored by their insurance companies for Katrina."

A State Farm spokesman essentially declined to comment. But, after all, what could the company say? 'We're very grateful for all of Mr. Lott's help over the years. He's played a key role in shielding lousy companies like us from large jury verdicts when we set out to screw people through our negligence or deliberate indifference. But what goes around comes around.'

Senator Lott, like many other right-wing Republicans in Congress, has dedicated an appreciable part of his political career to supporting laws that restrict or eliminate a jury's ability to dispense justice against fraudulent insurance companies, racist employers, deceptive Wall Street brokerage houses, negligent doctors, indifferent HMOs, discriminatory employers, tobacco companies, abusive meatpacking plants, deceptive used cars dealers, and unethical corporate boards -- among other miscreants in Corporate America.

He can't be thrilled to suddenly find himself on the other side of the docket, where the injured plaintiffs suffer from all that Mr. Lott and his colleagues have done to them.

Addendum
Victoria Kos has collected more gems about the evils of filing lawsuits, straight from the lips of now-plaintiff Trent Lott.