NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Mississippi once again denied a request for class action status to a coastal Mississippi woman who lost her home in Hurricane Katrina. Judy Guice, whose home was taken down to the concrete slab by the 130-mile-per-hour storm that hit the Gulf Coast on August 31, 2005, had argued that hers and similar "slab cases" should be grouped together in a class action suit against State Farm Mutual, the largest home insurer in Mississippi and the United States. U.S. District Court Judge L.T. Senter denied her motion -- as he previously had in August. Senter said three recent trials of "slab cases" had taught him that the strength of the hurricane varied between locations, and so did the damage to different buildings and the way claims were handled. "I do not believe there is any procedural advantage in creating a class of State Farm 'slab cases,' Senter wrote. State Farm had actually agreed to a class action settlement with Mississippi attorney Richard Scruggs in January after losing one of the three trials. However, the settlement with Scruggs fell apart when Judge Senter refused to accept it. State Farm is now working with State Insurance Commissioner George Dale to resolve as many as 35,000 Katrina cases in Mississippi.
