Mississippi

Ethics Commission Recommends Suspension for Miss. Judge Tied to Scruggs

Mississippi’s Commission on Judicial Performance has recommended an interim suspension for a trial judge under investigation in connection with plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs. The commission is investigating allegations that a Scruggs associate promised Judge Bobby DeLaughter that he would be considered for a federal judgeship at the same time…

Mar 31, 2008 12:46 PM CDT

Scruggs’ Son Pleads in Judicial Bribe Case

Zach Scruggs, the son and law partner of famed Mississippi plaintiffs attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in a judicial bribery case that also brought down his father. The junior Scruggs pleaded guilty in federal court today to misprision of a felony because he was…

Mar 21, 2008 5:30 PM CDT

Removal Recommended for Judge Who Disparaged ‘White Folks’

A judge accused of making racially charged statements about “white folks” and then lying about it in an affidavit should be removed from the bench, according to the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance. Judge Solomon Osborne is accused of making the statement in a September 2006 speech, the Clarion Ledger…

Mar 21, 2008 11:56 AM CDT

Fee Disputes Dog Scruggs, But Only One Results in Indictment

Updated: Richard Scruggs, the high-profile plaintiffs lawyer, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to bribe a Mississippi judge to rule for him in a fee dispute. The plea came as a surprise, but the fact that Scruggs had been embroiled in litigation over fees was not at all surprising. An early…

Mar 14, 2008 3:38 PM CDT

Scruggs’ Downslide: His Cases Had ‘Big Enemies and Bad Results’

Recently indicted plaintiffs lawyer Richard Scruggs bolstered his reputation as a legendary plaintiffs lawyer in the 1990s when he won settlements for shipyard workers exposed to asbestos and helped force tobacco companies to pay a $248 billion settlement. But in more recent years, Scruggs foundered as he pursued difficult cases…

Mar 7, 2008 1:17 PM CST

Ex-Judge Reprimanded for Training Conference Remarks

A former Mississippi judge has been reprimanded for disparaging remarks about African-Americans she made at a drug court training conference. The judge, Nicki Boland of Hinds County, was defeated when she ran for re-election last fall. During the Dallas conference held in 2005, Boland became upset with the county drug…

Feb 29, 2008 7:26 PM CST

Reports of New Scruggs Influence Payments Surface in FBI Notes

An FBI report says plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs agreed to pay two associates $500,000 to discourage Mississippi’s attorney general from indicting State Farm Insurance Co. A confidential source told the FBI that Scruggs feared State Farm would not settle his civil cases if the insurer also faced criminal charges,…

Feb 28, 2008 4:24 PM CST

Innocence Project Seeks Review of Mississippi Bite-Mark Murder Cases

A co-director of the Innocence Project, which uses DNA testing to free the wrongly convicted, plans to ask the state of Mississippi to review the cases of more than 20 defendants sent to prison based partly on the testimony of a controversial bite-mark expert. On Friday, a Mississippi judge dismissed…

Feb 21, 2008 1:30 PM CST

High-Profile Skadden Litigator Goofs, Sends Private E-mail to Reporters

Updated: Well-known litigator Sheila Birnbaum of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom believed Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood used a press release and newspaper column to mischaracterize a recent confidential settlement with her client State Farm, and she said so. Her opinion was intended to circulate in an internal e-mail,…

Feb 21, 2008 1:03 PM CST

Trent Lott Investigated in Scruggs Judicial Influence Probe

Federal authorities are investigating whether former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott was involved in an alleged conspiracy to influence a Mississippi judge to deliver a favorable ruling on behalf of plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). The case is one of two in which…

Feb 21, 2008 12:05 PM CST

Scruggs’ Lawyers Accuse Judge of Targeting Their Client in Bribe Case

Lawyers for Richard “Dickie” Scruggs are seeking to throw out taped conversations about an alleged attempt to bribe a state judge, arguing that one exchange suggests the judge wanted to set up his client. Scruggs’ lawyers are seeking more information about the extent to which Judge Henry Lackey of Mississippi…

Jan 17, 2008 3:39 PM CST

More Details Emerge in Scruggs Bribery Case, Former Counsel Pleads

More details were revealed in court today concerning an alleged attempt by famed Mississippi personal injury attorney Richard Scruggs and four others to bribe a judge last year for a favorable ruling in a $26.5 million case involving Hurricane Katrina legal fees. Meanwhile, in a separate case in which Scruggs…

Jan 14, 2008 7:15 PM CST

Two of Scruggs’ Lawyers Withdraw Following FBI Search of Their Law Firm

Two lawyers from a law firm searched by federal agents last month have resigned from representation of high-profile plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, who has been charged with conspiring to bribe a judge. Joey Langston and Billy Quin of the Langston Law Firm in Booneville, Miss., received permission to withdraw…

Jan 9, 2008 3:54 PM CST

$1.2M Paid in R.I. Lead Paint Suit

More than two years after DuPont agreed to pay $12 million and clean up 600 homes in order to settle a lead paint lawsuit brought by the state of Rhode Island, the first of the money is being distributed. Several children’s health and educational projects will split $1.2 million of…

Dec 18, 2007 11:26 PM CST

FBI Agents Search Offices of Lawyer for Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs

FBI agents this morning searched the office of a lawyer for indicted personal injury lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, who is accused in a federal indictment of conspiring to bribe a judge. Agents executed a search warrant for the office of lawyer Joey Langston of Booneville, Miss., according to the Clarion-Ledger.…

Dec 10, 2007 7:41 PM CST