Insurance Coverage Blog

I'm going to be speaking at Mississippi State University's Insurance Day -- I'm not sure if I'll be speaking on April 1 or April 2, but I'll get back to you soon when I clarify that.  Here's a link to sign up to attend -- there's a list of the speakers. 

It's going to be about the time of the Scruggs trial, if there is one, so I might stop in Oxford to pay my respects.  Unfortunately from the standpoint of doing everything I would like to in Mississippi, this is a very crazy busy time for me at work, so I can't stay long.  I'm sure I'll be back -- maybe to do interviews for that book I've been talking about.

What am I going to talk about? Well, I've been working on an hour-long speech about the nuances of anti-concurrent causation, including a really, really in-depth look at some case law from the '60s . . . . What are you kidding me, I'm gonna talk about Scruggs, of course!! 

Scruggs, Scruggs and more Scruggs, a veritable Scruggs-o-rama, a Scruggs-a-thon, a Scruggstacular, a Scruggsation.  And Hood.  Oh yes, I am definitely gonna talk some Hood.  Jim Hood, if you show up there I can do that interview with you I've been wanting to do -- I am gonna have a tape recorder with me!  And about Katrina litigation, yes indeed, I will talk about all that. 

Look, I like intellectual discourse as much as the next person, I like nuances, and mental challenges and all that, or I wouldn't be an insurance coverage litigator in the first place.  But let's face it, I'm also the guy who came straight off the farm in North Dakota and went down to Phoenix to be a crime reporter, driving around with the Crips and the Bloods and all, and I even got yelled at by John McCain a time or two (that was after I left the crime beat, didn't see much of J-Mac in the projects). So what I'm trying to say is I like excitement and sensationalism too -- wouldn't have been much of a crime reporter if I didn't -- and we're gonna talk about the sensational stuff, the really good stuff.  That's what we're gonna talk about.  But if folks want to ask questions, I can leave time for that.  I have only one requirement -- don't make fun of my accent.

If you have a particular topic or event or issue you'd like me to talk about, tell me in the comments or in an e-mail.  I can't promise anything, but I will consider requests. 

I don't grow 'em but I hope someone gives you a bushel of Sweet 'taters while you're here.

Well, forget it. If you're not going to provide an in-depth discussion of case law from the 60s, I'm not going.

Maybe Belle will show up to listen to your talk and you two can have a good debate on the General.

You can actually go through Vardaman and Calhoun City en route from Starkville to Oxford, David.

So are you glad its a longish ride from Natchez (home of bellesouth) to Starkville?

Good thing Ross' disclosed his penchant for sensationalism. Who could have guessed from merely reading his posts?

By the way, its hard to imagine a more one-sided panel of speakers. Seems like a long way to come just to sit around congratulating yourselves all day.

MSU I-DAY 2008

PARTIAL LIST OF SPEAKERS

Mike Chaney, Commissioner of Insurance, Mississippi
(Other State Insurance Commissioners invited for
Commissioner's Session)
George Dale, past Commissioner of Insurance, Mississippi
Robelynn Abadie, President-Elect,
Association of Health Insurance Advisors
Don Bailey, CEO, Willis North America
Frank Baron, Managing Director, AIG University
Cecilia Carlton, NAIFA-MS President
Carl Carter, Administrator, MS Restaurant & Hospitality
Association, Workers' Compensation Trust, Inc.
Sylvester Croom, Head Football Coach, MSU,
SEC Coach of the Year
Ernie Csiszar, Past President of PCIAA and
past Commissioner of Insurance for South Carolina
Lori Epstein, Vice President, Advanced Markets, MetLife
Lance Ewing, Vice President, Risk Management,
Harrah's Entertainment,
Business Insurance's Risk Manager of the Year, 2007
Dan Gibson, Executive Director,
MS Association of Self Insurers
Jennifer Hillert, Director of State Affairs,
National Association of Health Underwriters
Steve Iler, President, AIG Claims
Johnny Johns of MS Farm Bureau
Greg Michels, Regional Vice president,
Bond and Financial products, Travelers
Nick Nicolette, FPA President,
Sterling Financial, New Jersey
Paul Perks, Principal, Integro
Roger Riddick, Senior Partner, Upshaw, Williams, Biggers,
Beckham & Riddick
Dave Rossmiller, Partner,
Dunn, Carney, Allen, Higgins & Tongue, LLP,
Portland, Oregon
Managing Editor of insurancecoverageblog.com
Greg Serio, Managing Director, Park Strategies,
Former Supt. of Insurance, State of NY
Foster Welburn, Director,
MS Manufacturers' Association, Workers' Comp Group
Preston Williams, Director of Self-Insurance,
MS Workers' Compensation Commission

We are actually not going to sit around congratulating ourselves, we will be busy planning more evil! There is no time for self-congratulation when so many more policyholders could be harmed. Last year, evil was only up 34 percent!! That's a lot of evil that was left undone. So I'm looking forward to the break-out session: "Trial" Lawyers: How Can We Thwart Their Relentless Altruism and Beneficence?

Thanks for coming way down here, David. And Nah--maybe you should just head on back to Natchez...

A roomful of insurance weenies AND a football coach??? A mighty fine football coach, I must add, but ... still ....? Is that what it takes to draw a crowd at The Udder School?

Give me a one-sided panel with a good person trying to make this world better like Sly Croom any day of the week.

Go out of your way to meet Coach Croom David. We're blessed to have him here working with our young people.

So I'm looking forward to the break-out session: "Trial" Lawyers: How Can We Thwart Their Relentless Altruism and Beneficence?

--Can I still sign up for this, or is it full up by now? I suspect the latter.

I do hope you have started your book. After you write it and have it published, and after I buy my copy, will you autograph it for me if I send it to you with return postage? Just in case you say yes, I am going to say "Thank You" now.

David, You should plan your tip so that you can be in town over the weekend before the insurance day. It's Super Bulldog Weekend and I'm sure that someone would be more than happy to introduce you to the best place in the workd to watch college baseall - the Infamous Left Field Lounge.

I agree with G. Stephens. You deserve your own bushel of Vardaman sweet potatoes. Bake a couple or put some in a casserole, and then you'll understand why they are worth $40,000-$50,000.

My wife makes a really good sweet potato pie topped with pecans. So if anyone delivered a bushel of sweet potatoes to me I'd know how to put 'em to good use. Incidentally, in addition to the book on Scruggs and the musical (the Katrina Follies), I think I'll write a series of children's books about all this. The first in the series is called Tater Time for Timmy. It's about a kid who really loves his carbs, his parents have to bribe him to do all sorts of stuff like taking out the garbage by promising him sweet potatoes.