Lott’s Name Surfaces in Connection with New Scruggs Suit
It was about this time last year when things started heating up with L’Affaire Scruggs down in Mississippi. And by March, the die had been cast: famed plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs had pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a Mississippi judge. In August, he reported to federal prison.
But things just might be getting interesting again down there. A recent lawsuit filed against Scruggs and others alleges that former U.S. Senator Trent Lott conspired with Scruggs in an effort to improperly influence a different Mississippi judge, Bobby DeLaughter, in a case involving asbestos litigation.
The suit, filed in federal court in Oxford, Miss., was brought by an Alabama attorney, William Roberts Wilson, Jr., and renews a longstanding battle between him and Scruggs over fees from asbestos litigation. In 2006, DeLaughter, a Hinds County judge, made a ruling that was favorable to Scruggs in that dispute. While an expert recommended to the court that Scruggs pay Wilson about $15 million, Judge DeLaughter ruled that he was due only $1.5 million. Click here for the complaint, courtesy of our friends at Y’all Politics.
WSJ Law Blog
1/14/9
Magnolia Tribune
