Lawyer Battling for Katrina Payments Is Indicted

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: The New York Times

Richard F. Scruggs, a prominent trial lawyer who has been fighting insurance companies over payments for damage from Hurricane Katrina, was indicted yesterday by federal authorities on charges of offering a bribe of $50,000 to a Mississippi state judge in a dispute over fees with another lawyer.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Oxford, Miss., Mr. Scruggs’s hometown, said that on behalf of Mr. Scruggs, a colleague met several times this year with State Judge Henry L. Lackey in his chambers in Calhoun County to propose and deliver the bribe in installments.

Mr. Scruggs’s son Zachary, who is a partner in the Scruggs Law Firm in Oxford, and Sidney A. Backstrom, another partner, were also indicted, as were Mr. Scruggs’s colleague, Timothy R. Balducci, a partner in the firm of Patterson & Balducci, and Steven A. Patterson, a staff member in the firm. Mr. Scruggs, his son and the others were all accused of conspiracy.

The indictment, signed by Jim M. Greenlee, a United States attorney, said Judge Lackey reported an attempt to bribe him to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and cooperated with investigators as payments were made.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/business/29bribes.html?ex=1353992400&en=b4408535e5b6ffa1&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[tom_paine]

1. It is so hard to determine who is guilty or innocent when Arch-Crminals rule our nation

Is this guy actually guilty of something. Or is this the Siegelmann treatement, complete with Bushie judge appropriately named Lackey (God does indeed have a sense of humor, even in the bowels of a nation turning towards totalitarian evil that has inflicted murder on the world as is about to escalate it's evil)?

Who knows? With Bushie judges, Bushie lawyers, and Bushie Law Enforcement crowding outthe honest Americans in those fields, one does not know which way is down or up.

And that is just how murderous tyrants like Hitler or Bush like it. Just how they like it.

[lonestarnot]

2. You are so right.

[Mist]

3. Scruggs has litigated successfully against the asbestos industry and

Big Tobacco. The US attorney filing against Scruggs (Greenlee) is a Bush appointee. 'Nuff said.

Yeah, "Lackey" is so apt.

[DCKit]

4. Lest we forget, his brother in law is TRENT LOTT. n/t

[pleah]

5. If you want to read

the indictments, go to www.sunherald.com.

[Demeter]

6. Tobacco-Deal Lawyer Indicted in Miss.

Source: AP via Earthlink


By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
November 29, 2007 7:41 AM EST

NEW ORLEANS - An attorney who helped negotiate a multibillion-dollar settlement against tobacco companies in the 1990s and has sued insurers over unpaid Hurricane Katrina claims was indicted Wednesday in a suspected scheme to bribe a Mississippi judge.

The indictment accuses Richard "Dickie" Scruggs of conspiring to pay the judge $50,000 to rule in his favor in a lawsuit brought by other attorneys who sought fees for work on Katrina insurance litigation.

Scruggs was indicted along with three other attorneys, including his son, who is his law partner, and a former Mississippi auditor. They face charges including one count of defrauding the federal government and two counts of wire fraud.


Richard Scruggs, whose brother-in-law is Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., earned millions from asbestos litigation and from his role in brokering a multibillion-dollar settlement with tobacco companies in the mid-1990s.



Read more: http://my.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20071129/474e4750_3ca6_1552620071129-1270156715

---

Maybe this is another reason why Trent threw in the towel!

[NanceGreggs]

7. I think the fact that the Feds ...

... confiscated his brother-in-law's computer hard drive may have been a contributing factor to Mr. Lott's decision.

[aquart]

8. Tra la la la la la.

I'm sorry but this does give me the inclination to burst into song.

[ShockediSay]

9. Possibly more heinous, if not antithetical to democracy,

are the lobby lawyers, which is the direction Lott is heading.

I remember he had a big beef with his insurer over his damages
in Katrina.

[Demeter]

10. Oooh! You Are SHARP, Nance!

Bet the evidence disappears.....