Opinion
Civil Action 6:22-CV-04168
06-09-2023
Betty Rowell, Plaintiff v. Dover Bay Specialty Insurance Co, et al., Defendant
JAMES D. CAIN, JR., JUDGE.
SWORN STATEMENT OF CAMERON S. SNOWDEN
KAY, MAGISTRATE JUDGE.
STATE OF LOUISIANA
PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE
BEFORE ME, the undersigned Notary Public, duly commissioned and qualified in and for the above-listed Parish and State, personally came and appeared:
CAMERON S. SNOWDEN, Esq. ,
who, in accordance and compliance with this Honorable Court's Order issued on April 20, 2023 [R. Doc. 16] (the “Order”), respectfully offers the following sworn statement addressing each of the specific questions and/or topics of inquiry set forth in the Court's Order, items A through J, the complete language of which are reproduced below in italic font; to this end, Mr. Snowden, after first duly sworn, did depose, state, and confirm under oath as follows:
A) How Betty Rowell became a client of the firm:
A. I possess no relevant knowledge or information that corresponds to this question as it relates to this client.
B) Whether you personally have ever spoken with Betty Rowell:
B. To the best of my knowledge, I have never spoken to nor corresponded with Betty Rowell.
C) Whether you personally reviewed the complaint before it was filed:
C. Prior to August 19th, 2022 I was to have no involvement in the filing of the MMA lawsuits to be filed in August of 2022 related to Hurricanes, Laura and Delta. Originally, as I understood the plan to be, R. William Huye III, the Louisiana Managing Partner of MMA would be filing all Louisiana suits as the signatory and my name was to be listed on the signature block only for the purpose of being enrolled (in the event that I ever needed to file any future pleadings/motions or in order to attend hearings). That being said responsibility for the veracity of the information contained in the original pleadings was the sole purview of R. William Huye III, the Louisiana Managing Partner of MMA, and his staff that reported to and worked directly for him.
I was informed on Friday August 19th, after close of business on that day, that my PACER account, and the PACER accounts of Claude Reynaud and Grant Gardiner would have to be used in order to timely file all complaints within the roughly seven days prior to the upcoming prescriptive date for claims associated with Hurricanes Luara and Delta. We (Messrs Reynaud, Gardiner, and I) were informed by Mr. Huye that it would only be physically possible to file all complaints in time using a team of staff members working around the clock and utilizing all four (4) PACER accounts. Therefore, if even if one PACER account were not used in the filing of the lawsuits, a substantial number of client lawsuits would likely not be able to be filed and therefore possibly prescribe. The sole option I was presented with was either to allow my PACER account to be used in an effort to have all complaints filed timely and protect client interest, or to risk having the client Hurricane claims potentially prescribe. I chose to protect the client interests and proceed with the filing of suits under our PACER accounts.
MMA utilized form complaints. I did not participate in the drafting of the form complaints, though was generally familiar with the form complaint. The complaint filed in this matter was substantively similar to the form complaint utilized by MMA. Because of the time limitations, it would have been physically impossible for me to review each complaint and client file prior to each lawsuit being filed. However, I requested and was given assurances by R. William Huye III, the Louisiana Managing Partner of MMA, that all information contained in the suits was accurate, and that he would have been the signatory were it not for the time limitations given the proximity to the prescriptive date. Because of these assurances and due to the risk faced by MMA clients if my PACER account was not utilized, I therefore gave permission for my PACER to be used in MMA's system for filing. I also personally filed a number of lawsuits, though cannot remember if I filed this matter.
To that end, and in reliance on Mr. Huye's assurances I did not personally review this particular complaint in this case prior to it being filed. I was aware of MMA Form complaints similar to the complaint filed in this instant case, but did not specifically review this complaint before filing.
D) Whether you personally reviewed Betty Rowell's file before the complaint was filed:
D. Please see response (C) above. I did not have any personal knowledge of Betty Rowell's file at the time that suit was filed. I relied on the assurances by R. William Huye III, the Louisiana Managing Partner of MMA, that the intake and file materials used to generate the Complaint were accurate, and thus, that the allegations in the Complaint itself were accurate and had been verified. Unfortunately, I did not have sufficient time to review and verify the materials used for filing before the complaints had to be filed to protect clients' interests. Had I been notified before August 19, 2022 that I would be filing complaints on behalf of MMA clients, I would have done everything in my power to properly review each and every case file and draft complaint where my name was used as the primary signatory.
E) Upon what information you relied to make the allegations made in the complaint:
E. At the time of the filing of the Complaint in this matter, my understanding-based upon assurances that were given to me by R. William Huye III and others at MMA- was that all of the factual allegations to be set forth in the Complaint (both in this matter and others) were based upon verified and accurate, client-specific data and information that had been compiled and verified by MMA. Again, prior to the filing of the Complaint in this matter, we were all given assurances by R. William Huye III, Zach Moseley, and the MMA staff working directly for and under their direction that all of the client data and case-specific information that would be entered into the general template before filing-including, e.g., the defendant insurance company, date of loss, loss address, and policy number-was verified and completely true and accurate based on MMA's correspondence with the insurance company and the client. This, ultimately, was the “information upon which I relied” when I decided to allow my PACER account to be used for the filing of this Complaint and others, which I was told (and believed) was necessary to protect the clients' interests given the time constraints and the statute of limitation deadlines that were fast approaching at the time of filing. It was always my belief that MMA and R. William Huye III had properly verified the information and that the same was populated into the complaint filed, and at the time, I had no reason to believe that Mr. Huye's assurances were false.
F) A list of all software applications used by MMA for case management:
F. I resigned from MMA effective March 3, 2023. Therefore, I can only speak to the software utilized prior to the effective date of my resignation. To the best of my knowledge MMA primarily uses/used a case management software called “Smart Advocate” but also maintains/maintained case files and information on servers accessible through “Microsoft Share Point”.
G) Whether you kept records of activity on behalf of Betty Rowell separate and apart from the software identified in response to (2)(f) above used by MMA in general for case management and, if so, the name of that software or record keeping mechanism:
G. I personally did not keep or maintain any records on behalf of Betty Rowell.
H) Whether there exists a fee sharing arrangement between MMA and another law firm reflected in Betty Rowell's retention agreement or otherwise:
H. I possess no relevant knowledge or information that corresponds to this question. Although not directly responsive to this inquiry, I have no fee interest in this matter, nor any MMA file. I was not involved in MMA's solicitation and marketing efforts. With respect to certain files, while employed at MMA, I became aware of a referral source if it was noted in a client file.
I) A full explanation of why such an arrangement exists:
I. I possess no relevant knowledge or information that corresponds to this question.
J) What role was served in this litigation by any non-MMA attorney with whom MMA would share fees. This explanation must provide specific details of how this fee sharing arrangement was intended to benefit Betty Rowell.
J. I possess no relevant knowledge or information that corresponds to this question.
The undersigned, Mr. Cameron S. Snowden, Esq., attests and swears under oath that everything stated and contained herein is completely true, correct, and accurate to the very best of his personal knowledge, information, and belief.
CAMERON S. SNOWDEN, Esq.
SWORN TO AND SUBSCRIBED before me, the undersigned Notary Public