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Richard "Dickie" Scruggs is a prominent trial lawyer and one of the richest men in Mississippi.
Early life
Scruggs grew up in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Education
Scruggs was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon as an undergraduate at the University of Mississippi. He also attended law school at the University of Mississippi, where he was classmates with Mike Moore, a close friend who later became the Attorney General of Mississippi.
Scruggs and his wife Diane are ardent supporters of the University of Mississippi, having made large donations to several organizations on campus. Scruggs Hall was named in their honor. It currently houses the Music department.
Legal career
Early career
Scruggs practiced law in Jackson, Mississippi and New York before opening his own private practice in Pascagoula.
One of his first legal victories was in representing workers at the Pascagoula shipyard who had become fatally ill as a result of exposure to asbestos fibers. He later became known for his class action lawsuits against the asbestos industry.
Tobacco litigation
In the 1990s, Scruggs was hired by Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore to assist with a lawsuit against thirteen tobacco companies. Settlement of the state's case against the tobacco companies was for $248 billion dollars. His performance in this case was portrayed by actor Colm Feore in the movie The Insider. Scruggs himself, as well as his second home in Pascagoula, Mississippi, also appeared in the film.
Ritalin lawsuits
A short time after the tobacco lawsuit, Scruggs lead and became a spokesman for the plaintiffs in the Ritalin class action lawsuits. He asserted that the Ritalin defendants "manufactured a disease" and that ritalin "has been grossly over-prescribed. It is a huge risk." All five class actions in five separate states were dismissed before trial.
Katrina litigation
Scruggs' brother-in-law is Senator Trent Lott, former Majority Leader of the US Senate (Scruggs' wife Diane is the sister of Lott's wife Tricia). Scruggs represented Lott through the Scruggs Katrina Group in a lawsuit against insurance company State Farm because of damage stemming from Hurricane Katrina.
Scruggs filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mississippi against numerous insurance companies to recover damages in wake of Katrina. On June 15, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge William Acker, in an opinion recommending that Scruggs be prosecuted for criminal contempt, suggested high pressure tactics were unfairly used to pressure the insurance companies into settlement, and that documents were improperly sent to Hood's office "for the calculated purpose of ensuring noncompliance with or avoidance."
Indictment
On Wednesday, November 28, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Scruggs and four others on charges that they attempted to bribe Mississippi Third Circuit Court Judge Henry L. Lackey with $50,000. (Lackey himself was not implicated, as he was the one to originally contact the FBI about the attempted bribe.) This bribe was allegedly in exchange for a favorable ruling in a case brought by attorney John Griffin Jones (of the Jackson, Mississippi, law firm, Jones, Funderburg, Sessums, Peterson & Lee) against Scruggs and colleagues regarding legal fees related to the Scruggs Katrina Group litigation team. Scruggs faces up to 75 years in prison if convicted. Scruggs' defense attorney is John W. Keker, of San Francisco.
References
- ^ Fausset, Richard; Jarvie, Jenny (2007-11-30), "Katrina lawyer at the eye of a storm", Los Angeles Times
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Treaster, Joseph (2007-11-29), "Lawyer Battling for Katrina Payments Is Indicted", New York Times, pp. C2
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Full cast and crew for The Insider (1999), IMDB, retrieved December 2, 2007
- Primary court document 06-cv-01752-WMA Doc. 145 "Memorandum Opinion," June 15, 2007.
- "Alabama judge seeks criminal contempt prosecution of Scruggs". Mobile Register. 2007-06-17.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) Judge Recommends Feds Prosecute Scruggs for Contempt, Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
- Richard Scruggs, Frontline: Inside the Tobacco Deal
- Music Department Facilities, University of Mississippi Web Site
- LA Times story on Lott's suit
External links
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