Scruggs, now 61, has for years been a white knight in the eyes of many, especially in Mississippi. As a plaintiffs lawyer, he almost always went after unpopular defendants: makers of asbestos, insurance companies, drug manufacturers and the like. And Scruggs has continued to do so, even though the tobacco payout assured that he would never have to work another day in his life.
A year after the massive tobacco settlement, he bankrolled a series of class actions concerning use of the drug Ritalin as treatment for hyperactive children—though he missed the mark on that crusade, with the cases being quickly dismissed.
He went after HMOs, but that effort resulted in settlements of a mere $250,000. He took on the welding industry for harm caused to welders by fumes, and he worked for free to challenge alleged hospital overbilling of the uninsured. And after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he declared war on insurance companies that had refused claims from Mississippians whose homes and businesses had been damaged or destroyed.
“He’s made a lot of money, but by and large he’s made it working on behalf of people egregiously wronged by companies or industries engaged in massive wrongdoing,” says friend Matt Myers, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Author John Grisham, a former Mississippi lawyer and longtime friend of Scruggs’, is said to have loosely based his novel The King of Torts on Scruggs.
Grisham, like a number of Scruggs’ friends and associates, declined comment for this story. But shortly after Scruggs’ indictment in December—before the government’s case became well-documented—he told the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog that he was viewing the federal criminal charges with skepticism.
“When you know Dickie and how successful he has been, you could not believe he would be involved in such a boneheaded bribery scam that is not in the least bit sophisticated. I don’t believe it,” Grisham said.
As this article went to press in mid- March, the bribery trial was scheduled to begin on March 31. Key associates have pleaded guilty or turned witness against him, and long-festering feuds over the massive fees Scruggs earned have fueled new questions about the very manner in which he built his career.
As one would expect with a powerful lawyer with powerful friends, his troubles have registered tremors deep in Mississippi legal circles, touching judges, lawyers and politicians who’ve dealt with him over the years, including the state’s attorney general, Jim Hood, and Scruggs’ own brother-in-law, Trent Lott, the former Senate majority leader.
So complete has been this reversal of fortune that Keker found himself arguing in that Oxford courtroom that Mississippians were piling on Dickie Scruggs. “The notion being, at last he’s getting his comeuppance,” Keker said.
ABA Magazine
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Magnolia Tribune
