NU Online News Service, June 23, 3:30 p.m. EDT

State Farm will visit Kentucky on Tuesday to speak with longtimenemesis, former attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs.

Mr. Scruggs is serving a seven-year sentence at the FederalCorrectional Institute in Ashland, Ky. He was sentenced two yearsago.

The Louisiana attorney once dubbed the "King of Torts" admittedhe took part in the attempted bribery of a Mississippi circuitcourt judge who presided over a case involving the split ofattorneys' fees with another attorney in the Scruggs Katrina Group(SKG).

The group had filed lawsuits against insurers on behalf ofhundreds of policyholders following Hurricane Katrina.

State Farm wants to take pre-trial testimony from Mr. Scruggs aspart of the insurer's preparation for a trial against Scruggs'former clients, Cori and Kerri Rigsby, according to courtdocuments.

The Rigsby sisters adjusted claims for an independent contractorState Farm used after Katrina. The sisters alleged that the insurerdefrauded the federal government by shifting claims responsibilityto the National Flood Insurance Program.

State Farm has denied the Rigsbys' allegations. The trial is setto begin at the start of December, but both sides are now gatheringpre-trial evidence, called discovery, with a deadline of July 1,court records show.

The Rigsbys gave Mr. Scruggs hundreds of State Farm claimsdocuments, which the attorney said backed up allegations againstthe insurer. The sisters then went to work as consultants for Mr.Scruggs--a relationship since called unethical by a U.S. DistrictCourt judge who then barred the Rigsbys from testifying in othercases against insurers.

The sisters can only provide testimony on the claim of Biloxi,Miss., couple Thomas and Pamela McIntosh, because that is the solecase in which they have firsthand knowledge, a judge ruled.

The insurer is also seeking a number of documents from Mr.Scruggs, including the documents the Rigsbys took from StateFarm.

Additionally, the company is looking for records of real estatepurchases by the Rigsby sisters, records of payments of any kind tothe Rigsbys, contracts for payment, materials of correspondencebetween the law firms of the SKG, travel records for the Rigsbys,and any evidence of communication between the SKG and formerSenator Trent Lott relating to the McIntosh claim.

Mr. Lott is Scruggs' brother-in-law.