Updates on Scruggs v. Jones hearing, April 16
Questions:
What exactly did the text message say?
Will Moore be willing to share it with the public, say, by posting a copy of it on his law firm’s website? Did Moore get Stallings permission to show his text message to third parties?
When it says “confirmed the story,” what story was confirmed? According to Moore, Stallings said to contact the AG’s office. Does that mean that Stallings did not relate the story about Hood being pressured? Does it mean he did relate that story but said to contact the AG anyway? Does it mean that he related the story but did not claim any involvement by Moore? Does it mean that Stallings said Lackey’s testimony was entirely false?
If the text message confirmed something, why don’t we know verbatim what the message said, and if a message from Moore to Stallings preceded it, why don’t we have a verbatim accounting of what that message said? Since Stallings is a Mississippi public official, these text messages should be accessible through a Public Records Law request.
Something about the Moore remarks strikes me as something less than a categorical denial that Hood received pressure from Scruggs to help settle the cases, or at the least, that Scruggs intended to or tried to assert such pressure. When Moore says he wouldn’t have anything to do with Patterson, does that also mean he wouldn’t have anything to do with Balducci? If Scruggs wanted or intended to pressure Hood to bring about that result, even if Hood wasn’t aware of it, was Moore aware of it in any way?
Is it wise to call Lackey out as either confused or a liar? This was tried, with a distinct lack of success, by Scruggs’ defense in the bribery case. What motive would Lackey have to lie?
If Lackey is confused, can Moore say with confidence the investigation would have turned out the same way had Lackey actually gone to the AG’s office? I mean, Hood showed a draft of his own civil lawsuit against Katrina insurers to Scruggs for his input within days after Katrina hit, he worked closely with Scruggs on such matters as the Rigsby documents and considered Scruggs his confidential informant. It’s not like we lack evidence, outside of the evidence of Lackey’s testimony yesterday, that Hood and Scruggs were tight. Who will say with a straight face that Lackey’s fears about going to the AG’s office were delusional? It would take a lot of Hoodzpah to make such a claim.
Insurance Coverage Blog
4/16/8
Magnolia Tribune
