January 23, 2007

See today's New York Times. Mississippi will drop the threat of criminal charges; $80 million to 640 plaintiffs (including 300 whose houses were completely destroyed by storm surge), and the option for 35,000 policyholders to reopen other claims at a cost of $50 to $600 million. (State Farm is a non-profit mutual insurer, so this is money coming out of the pockets of other policyholders.) The long-term costs to all of us are going to be much much higher than this nine-digit settlement, since future attorneys general learn that there are short-term political rewards to be had by demagoguing against settled expectations and insurance companies realize they can't trust courts to enforce those contracts. There are likely other terms to the settlement that are not yet public.