NU Online News Service, June 25, 2:36 p.m. EDT
A judge in the Southern District of Mississippi has given State Farm and two sisters accusing it of defrauding the U.S government more than nine months to prepare for a trial after six years of litigious backbiting.
The latest entry of about 950 in the case's docket report since whistleblowers Cori and Kerri Rigsby filed a well-publicized False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit against State Farm in April 2006 sets a trial date of March 25, 2013.
Judge Halil S. Ozerden also set a settlement conference date in January 2013 and a pretrial conference in February next year.
The Rigsbys, former independent claims adjusters, allege State Farm doctored engineering reports after Hurricane Katrina so it could allegedly send losses to the National Flood Insurance Program. Flood and storm surge losses are not covered by a standard homeowners' insurance policy.
Earlier this month Ozerden ruled on the last of the pretrial motions in the case, denying State Farm's latest request to dismiss the lawsuit the Rigsbys' request to expand its scope.
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