Legal News

Another Not-so-Good Day for the Scruggs Defendants

By Ashby Jones

Whoa, boy. Not a good day for the three remaining defendants in L’Affaire Scruggs. Judge Neal Biggers denied several motions made by the defendants. Zach Scruggs and Sid Backstrom’s motions for separate trials: Denied! A motion to suppress wiretap evidence: Dinged! Dickie Scruggs’s motion for a change of venue: Nope! Two motions to dismiss: Not today! A motion to keep evidence from the Joey Langston/Bobby DeLaughter matter out of Dickie Scruggs’s trial: No soup for you!

We’d link to all the orders, but trust us, they’re not that interesting. Instead, check out stories from the Biloxi Sun-Herald and the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Looks like, barring plea agreements, Scruggs & Co. are headed to trial on March 31.

In other Scruggs news, an interesting side-story came to light: According to an FBI memorandum, Scruggs (pictured, right) promised to pay Tim Balducci and Steve Patterson $500,000 each if they could persuade Mississippi AG Jim Hood (pictured, left) to hold off on filing criminal charges against State Farm. According to the memo, Scruggs worried that State Farm would back out of a near-settlement he’d struck with the insurer over Hurricane Katrina litigation if Hood filed criminal charges. Ultimately, Hood decided not to file. The above-linked story from the Clarion Ledger has the deets; here’s a separate story from the Sun-Herald.

On Tuesday, Hood told press outlets that his decision not to indict State Farm was based solely on advice from senior prosecutors. According to the FBI memo, “Dickie Scruggs reneged on his pledge to pay Patterson Balducci $500,000, but later agreed to pay the firm $100,000 per month over five months.” The Scruggs firm later settled with State Farm, resulting in the roughly $26 million in fees that then became the subject of litigation that led to the alleged bribery attempt.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 27, 2008 (boomark / email).