Ain’t That a Shame — The “King of Torts” is Headin’ Off To The Hoosegow. Good riddance.
Posted by WLS:
According to this breaking story, Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, famed Mississippi extortionist/torts lawyer, pled guilty late today to having attempted to bribe a state judge in a dispute over legal fees with other attorneys.
This is a federal case in the District of Mississippi. Scruggs is the brother-in-law of Trent Lott.
Once again, evidence that the Bush Justice Department is only interested in prosecuting Dimocrits like Elliot Spitzer.
Personally, I’ve always been offended by the way the Mississippi state court system has been a battering ram for lawyers to use to bludgeon corporate America. And Dickie Scruggs was the foremost practitioner.
Scruggs may be Trent Lott’s brother-in-law but, as a trial lawyer, I’m betting that his own politics skew heavily to the Democrats.
PatHMV (0e077d) — 3/14/2008 @ 3:38 pmScruggs isn’t the only one of his type in Mississippi, and I’ve known more than a few of them here in Texas, too. But there are good lawyers and good judges in both states who will celebrate this result.
Beldar (433d17) — 3/14/2008 @ 3:51 pmI believe PatHMV is correct, IIRC, Scruggs was in fact a big time contributor to the Democrats so this post is not totally convincing.
James B. Shearer (fc887e) — 3/14/2008 @ 4:12 pmAgree with Mr. Shearer. Since the article puts up the fact that he’s a Democrat contributor, it’s certainly no evidence that DOJ is going after Republicans.
kishnevi (3cf898) — 3/14/2008 @ 4:21 pmDickie is and has been a good friend and supporter of Trent Lott (Former R sen from Miss)for decades. Instapundit (Glenn)speculated months ago that Lott’s leaving the Senate was related to Dickie’s pending convictions(plural on purpose),
Rod Stanton (15c5ae) — 3/14/2008 @ 4:55 pmI understand that he has been a contributor to Dimocrits — its expected from the Tort Bar. But he’s also tied at the hip to Trent Lott. If the Bush DOJ was really an extension of the RNC, don’t you think in deference to Lott it would have been persuaded to look the other way?
WLS (68fd1f) — 3/14/2008 @ 7:34 pmHow long before Alan Dershowitz pens an (another) angry OpEd in the WSJ defending Dickie, and attacking the mean-spirited Bush DoJ?
Another Drew (8018ee) — 3/14/2008 @ 10:42 pmScruggs was scheduled to hold a fund raiser to benefit Hillary Clinton that Bill Clinton was going to attend and that was canceled when the indictment broke.
SlimGuy (ea6549) — 3/15/2008 @ 2:48 am(Fortune) — In just over a month, corporate America has seen the downfall of three of its most vilified legal opponents.
Bill Lerach, the former securities class action king, was sentenced to two years in prison on February 12; Eliot Spitzer, the one-time scourge of Wall Street, announced his resignation as New York’s governor on March 12; and Richard Scruggs, the master of giant tobacco and asbestos cases, pleaded guilty today to one federal count of “conspiracy to corruptly influence a state circuit court judge.” He faces up to five years in federal prison.
Although Spitzer’s tumble was the most dramatic, it’s Scruggs and Lerach whose descents loom largest for corporate general counsel these days. After all, Spitzer had graduated from his role as prosecutor (to be replaced by Andrew Cuomo, who seems to be emulating the aggressive approach of his predecessor).
And, equally important, Scruggs and Lerach were brought down for transgressions directly related to how they handled one or more cases.
The result is a satisfying “I told you so” in corporate boardrooms.
SlimGuy (ea6549) — 3/15/2008 @ 2:51 amlOOKS LIKE ONE OF THOSE SCOUNDRELS HAS FINALY BEEN BROUGHT DOWN A SHARK HAS JUST BEEN HARPOONED
krazy kagu (a2e13d) — 3/15/2008 @ 6:08 pm