Whistleblower Case Over Katrina Claims Handling Looms

State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. has appealed an order that it pay legal fees and damages of $3 million in a whistleblower lawsuit in which a jury found the insurer defrauded the government in a policyholder claim after Hurricane Katrina. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled oral arguments in the case for Feb. 5 in New Orleans. Sisters Cori and Kerri Rigsby of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, worked for an Alabama contractor E.A. Renfroe hired by State Farm to provide damage assessments after the August 2005 hurricane.