A 2007 investigation by CNN reported that major car insurance companies, including State Farm and Allstate Insurance, are increasingly fighting claims from those injured by their insured members. In some cases, the settlement proposed amounts to just $50 or the threat that any lawsuit would be made so expensive and time-consuming that it would not be worth the victim's time. State Farm and Allstate have denied these allegations.[14] This followed on the heels of criminal investigations by the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, which found that State Farm had wrongly denied claims stemming from Hurricane Katrina.[15] Richard F "Dickie" Scruggs pleaded guilty in March for his role in trying to pay Judge Henry Lackey of Mississippi a $50,000 bribe for a favorable ruling in a dispute involving a $26.5 million settlement after Hurricane Katrina.[16]
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