Allstate, Scruggs Group Settle Mississippi Claims

Allstate and the Scruggs Katrina Group of attorneys announced today they had reached a settlement for hundreds of Mississippi homeowners who had Hurricane Katrina damage claims against the insurer.

The lawyers group and the carrier said terms are confidential and are subject to individual client consent. The settlement agreements will be presented shortly to each Scruggs Katrina Group client, the announcement said.

Sid Backstrom an attorney with plaintiff's group said all the suits involved had been filed with the federal court system.

Mike Siemienas, an Allstate spokesman, said the firm is happy it was "able to engage in discussions with our customers' counsel that resulted in an agreement to resolve the claims."

"We are pleased that these customers are now a part of the 99 percent of Allstate customers in Mississippi whose claims are settled and are moving on with their lives," he added.

He said that since Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, the company's adjusters had been "working hard to resolve customers' claims fairly and appropriately. We will continue to work until all claims are resolved."

An Associated Press report said that one of the Scruggs Group attorneys had said last month that they represented about 280 policyholders.

Today's calm announcement by Allstate and Scruggs Group is in stark contrast to settlement efforts between State Farm and the group, which have been marked by both sides accusing the other of misconduct.

Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, the high-profile lead attorney for Oxford, Miss.-based Scruggs Group, recently filed a civil racketeering action against State Farm, alleging fraudulent engineering assessments of homeowners' damage.

The insurer also asked to have Mr. Scruggs removed from a case, citing alleged misconduct involving documents purloined from its files.

Representatives for the two sides could not immediately say whether all the claims cases were federal court or state court filings, or a mix of both.