The other day, reporting Judge Senter’s order disqualifying all Scruggs Katrina Group/Katrina Litigation Group firms for paying the Rigsby sisters $150,000 a year apiece as witnesses,   NMC observed, “This is a devastating blow to the cases against State Farm, so serious that it is hard to imagine how those cases will go forward. It is really sad for the plaintiffs in those cases – who now have really spectacular malpractice claims against some folks with some deep pockets …”

Apropos of such claims, this look at the slapdash  SKG joint venture agreement(6-page pdf), signed for their respective firms by Sid Backstrom, Don Barrett, Mary McAlister, John Jones, and Sparky Lovelace (Paul Benton had left the partnership by this time, so no signature from him then or liability now: Mega-Whew, eh, PB?). Note paragraph 3 on page 2 (bold emph. mine):

Capital Contributions from either [Nutt & McAlister, up to $1 million per year, or pro-rated shares from all group-members in years when expenses exceed that] shall be used only for expenses that are common to the joint venture firms in prosecuting the litigation.   Such common fund expenses include  but are not limited to the following: retention of consultants and experts, costs to establish and maintain a centralized document depository and an internet-based client database, temporary office and staffing (if necessary),   witness fees, deposition costs, document production costs, public relations, etc. Nutt & McAlister will serve as the treasurer for the venture with Ernie Coward serving as the principle [sic] contact person. All invoices shall be submitted to Nutt & McAlister for an initial determination of whether an expense is a common account expense or not. A manifest form will be provided to each venturer for use in submitting expenses for reimbursement. The form will provide for three classes: (1)   Client specific  — copies, postage, etc. These expenses must include client’s name and Social Security number and are recoverable from clients from award funds, (2)   Common benefits   — such as experts, depositions, court costs, etc., These expenses   are recoverable, pro rata, from clients from award funds  (3)   Venture expenses  — are those which benefit the venture but are not recoverable from clients. If these are approved, they will be reimbursed to paying venturer and pro-rated back to all venturers.


http://www.folo.us/2008/04/12/a-core-piece-of-evidence-for-skg-malpractice-claimants/