| Lead counsel moving on
The jury trial was scheduled for August 13 in Cleveland County District Court. The trial had been moved from McClain County after the defense argued a change of venue.
Oklahoma�s Indigent Defense System is a statewide public defender system that represents indigent defendants. The system is funded entirely with state funds through annual appropriations of monies by the Oklahoma Legislature.
At a hearing July 11, the court approved L. Wayne Woodyard as lead counsel. He will be assisted by G. Lynn Burch and Matthew Haire. Woodyard is out of the Tulsa office.
The July 17 hearing also showed Underwood voluntarily waiving his six month venue stand for trial rule and right to speedy trial.
Pretrial and trial dates were also stricken and a new scheduling order for the dates was to be entered.
Study says Alabama tied for second in most uninsured motorists
MOBILE -- A national study suggests Alabama's mandatory auto insurance law has had little effect on the number of uninsured driver on state roads since the Legislature enacted it in 1999. The Insurance Research Council, a nonprofit study group funded by insurance providers, released the study showing 25 percent of Alabama drivers lacked insurance between 1999 and 2004. That was unchanged from a 1998 state study of uninsured drivers, and tied California for the second-highest percentage of uninsured drivers in the 50 states. Mississippi ranked first, the Mobile Press-Register reported. Insurance experts say the problem with the law is that people with relatively few assets to protect have no reason to buy insurance. "I think mandatory liability insurance is a tax on the poor," said Carol Jordan, a professor of risk management and insurance at Troy University.
New Study Cites Allstate As A Leader In Anti-Consumer Insurance ...
July 18, 2007 -- The Allstate Corporation has been at the forefront of the insurance industry in unjustifiably raising home and automobile insurance rates relative to the amount paid out in claims, in using questionable practices to settle claims and in attempting to shift costs to taxpayers, according to a detailed new study released today by the Consumer Federation of America. “Allstate is certainly not the only insurer pursuing these anti-consumer practices, but it has been in the vanguard in developing and implementing many of them," said J. Robert Hunter, CFA's Director of Insurance and former Texas Insurance Commissioner and Federal Insurance Administrator. CFA's report, entitled “The Good Hands Company or a Leader in Anti-Consumer Practices?" identified several significant problems with Allstate's home and automobile insurance practices: 1.
In the mail, outrage and warnings
We're reserving this week's column for notes of outrage and caution from readers, like this one from Carlo Tolve of New Hyde Park. The target of his outrage - and a complaint to the New York State Insurance Department - is Allstate Insurance, and I suspect he is not alone.
Tolve, 72, a retired aerospace worker, received a notice from Allstate last month, addressed to "Dear Customer," in which he was notified that his homeowner's policy would not be renewed because, the notice claimed, his house is close to the Atlantic coast and in danger of hurricane damage.
Tolve wrote, "I am located in the center of Long Island. I am miles from the Atlantic coast. I have lived here over 40 years and have never seen any catastrophic conditions in my area. But what has really upset me is that they [Allstate] state that if they had my auto insurance policy, they would renew my house policy."
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