ICLAWBLOG – USA v. Scruggs (‘Bama version) is dismissed, case closed

USA v. Scruggs (‘Bama version) is dismissed, case closed

One final thing — you remember how these documents were supposed to be sent to Hood under the “law enforcement exception” so they wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands and hurt Hood’s grand jury investigation? How soon we forget. Look at Hood’s press release from when the settlement with State Farm was announced in January 2007, the settlement where he agreed not to prosecute the insurer:

“After months of heated negotiations, I am happy to announce that our office has reached a settlement agreement with State Farm in our state court litigation,” said Attorney General Jim Hood.

Months of negotiations? Let’s see, the documents were sent to Hood in mid-December 2006. Well, then . . . I guess, just maybe, protecting the grand jury process wasn’t really the motive for sending the documents after all. Why not? For starters, let’s remember that we’ve heard some substantial evidence that, about this very time, Scruggs was pressuing Hood to drop the criminal investigation so State Farm would settle civil cases with Scruggs.

Insurance Coverage Blog
2/29/8