Kansas City Courthouse Roundup: August 14, 2007

Daily Record and the Kansas City Daily News-Press, Aug 14, 2007 by Charles Emerick

Attorneys in a bad-faith case against Allstate Insurance Co. are again requesting documents that the insurer has failed to hand over.

The filing made last week by Springfield attorney Steve Garner was the ninth request for Allstate to produce documents containing alleged business secrets.

"I fully expect they will produce the documents," Garner said. "The judge has ordered that they be produced, and we've gone far enough down the road now that we can't turn back."

The bad-faith claim stems from a November 2005 settlement between Dale Deer and Paul Aldridge. Aldridge, who was insured by Allstate, caused a September 2000 car wreck that injured Deer in Saline County.

Allstate refused to pay the settlement and Deer, represented by Dirk Vandever, of the Popham Law Firm, followed with a lawsuit against the company and Aldridge. Aldridge alleged bad faith against Allstate in a cross-claim.

According to court records, Deer is owed more than $1 million.

Garner, Aldridge's attorney, wants Allstate to produce what are known as the McKinsey documents -- slides created by McKinsey & Co., a consulting firm hired by Allstate in the 1990s.

Allstate has not produced the documents since the requests started in October.

As a result, the insurer was found in contempt of court, had its pleadings struck and was fined.

Allstate dismissed its lawyer from the case in July and hired Mike McCausland, of Harris McCausland. He recently filed a motion to vacate several orders and asked the court to give Allstate another opportunity to settle or defend the case.

The court held a hearing with the parties Aug. 3 to discuss Allstate's motion.

Court records show a judge irritated with Allstate's lack of cooperation.

In a July 2 hearing, Circuit Judge Michael Manners found Allstate in contempt of court and ordered the insurance company to pay $10,000 for every day after July 5 that it failed to produce the requested documents.

According to a transcript from that hearing, Manners threatened to increase the fine "considerably" if Allstate continued to be uncooperative.

"Now, Allstate has got to understand," he said, "I'm not going to tolerate defiance of my orders. That's just the way it's going to come down. ... All I know is I've got an order that's not been obeyed, and I'm not going to permit that to go on."

He added that Allstate did not provide any evidence to justify its actions.

"It's one thing if I give you a time limit, and you can't comply and you say, 'We need more time,'" Manners said. "But what I see in looking at this file is nothing. I mean, the silence on this has been thunderous."

McCausland was out of the office late last week and unavailable for comment.

The case is scheduled for trial on Nov. 5.

"Our efforts have been to get the documents for the trial," Garner said. "That's all I want and have ever asked for."

Court distributes awards in wrongful-death settlement

A mother who claimed her infant son died as a result of injuries he sustained in a car wreck received $65,000 following a settlement distribution hearing last week.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Sandra Midkiff approved the settlement that agreed State Farm and Nellie Mann would pay Nora Cook for the August 2003 accident involving her 4-month-old son, Aaron. State Farm will pay $50,000 and Mann, the boy's grandmother, will pay $15,000, according to court records.

Cook sued State Farm for breach of contract and Mann for personal injury following the accident in which the vehicle Mann was driving was hit head-on by Robert Proctor, who was driving drunk. He also did not have a license or insurance, according to Cook's petition. Proctor also was a defendant in the lawsuit.

Aaron was riding in his grandmother's lap when the accident at 75th Street and Lydia Avenue in Kansas City occurred. He struck the windshield and sustained injuries to his brain, skull and ribs. The boy died in February.

Following Aaron's death, Cook amended the petition to claim wrongful death on the behalf of her son.

State Farm, which insured Mann's 1994 Dodge Shadow, claimed there was no link between the accident and Aaron's death, which were separated by more than three years.

According to court records, Aaron was born two months premature to Cook in April 2003. He weight just more than 4 pounds.

Attorneys for State Farm claimed Aaron suffered from cerebral palsy-like symptoms that were not related to the wreck.

In a filing from earlier this year, State Farm included medical records that stated it was unclear whether the accident or his birth was to blame for Aaron's condition.

During last week's hearing, the court also ordered the distribution of $6,700 for funeral expenses and $20,000 for Cook's attorney's fees.

Cook's lawsuit against Proctor is still pending.

She seeks punitive damages to "punish and deter (Proctor) from future wrongdoing."

Proctor, 48, pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in Jackson County Circuit Court in January 2004. He received a suspended sentence of 120 days in jail. Other special condition included 40 hours of community service, two years of probation, the installation of interlock ignition device and completion of the Substance Abuse Traffic Offender Program.