LegalNewsLine Logo  
Sunday, July 5 2009     Subscribe in NewsGator Online
News | Contact LegalNewsline | About Us | Advertise | RSS
Enter search keyword
 
NEWSLETTER
Receive our FREE weekly newsletter
click here
LNL MOST POPULAR ARTICLES
+ Powell: Sotomayor nomination should not be derailed
+ U.S. Supreme Court sides with white firefighters in race bias case
+ U.S. Supreme Court: State AGs may probe national lending practices
+ King: Rethink GM bankruptcy plan
+ Obama says Supreme Court 'moving the ball' on affirmative action
LNL HOT TOPICS
+ Asbestos
+ Bankruptcy
+ Big Pharma
+ Class Action
+ Dickie Scruggs
+ Financial Crisis
+ Gasoline Prices
+ Global Warming
+ Hurricane Katrina
+ Lead Paint
+ Personal Injury
+ Sub-Prime Mortgages
Dickie Scruggs 
 
Synchronicity scheduled to strike Scruggs on Feb. 25
Scruggs
GULFPORT, Miss. - Indicted trial lawyer Richard "Dickie" Scruggs might soon have to find a way to appear in two places at the same time.

Scruggs received a subpoena Friday ordering him to testify during the Feb. 25 trial of one of the more well-known Hurricane Katrina lawsuits against State Farm Insurance Cos., the same day he is scheduled to go on trial for allegedly attempting to bribe a state judge.

The two trials are 331 miles apart.

"You are commanded to appear in the United States district court at the place, date and time specified below to testify in the above case," says the subpoena, which can be viewed here.

Scruggs, his son Zach (also facing bribery charges) and attorney John Jones each were told to be present at the trial of Thomas and Pamela McIntosh, who allege that State Farm misrepresented the amount of damage done to their home by wind (covered by State Farm's policy) and water (covered by a federal program).

The McIntosh trial starts at 10 a.m. Scruggs' is scheduled to start at 9 a.m., though it already has been postponed from Jan. 22 in order to allow his defense team time to gather and inspect the evidence federal prosecutors say they have.

Scruggs Law Firm member Sidney Backstrom and former state Auditor Steven Patterson are the Scruggs' co-defendants in the trial. Attorney Timothy Balducci has already pleaded guilty to a bribery charge and is cooperating with federal prosecutors.

The five are alleged to have offered $40,000 to Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey in exchange for a favorable ruling in a dispute with Jones' firm over $26.5 million in attorneys fees earned in a settling of 640 cases against State Farm.

Since the November indictment, Scruggs' firm dropped out of all Katrina cases. The remaining firms that once made up the Scruggs Katrina Group renamed themselves the Katrina Litigation Group.

Thursday, State Farm moved to disqualify those three firms (Nutt & McAlister, The Lovelace Law Firm and Barrett Law Office) from McIntosh, just as it had done in Glenda Shows' case against the company.

Scruggs faces up to 75 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines. In the McIntosh case, he filed a motion to intervene Dec. 27 with the intention of defending himself against an order that requires he be deposed.

The subpoena he received also requests the production of certain documents, such as any communications between Scruggs and the whistleblower Rigsby sisters, state Attorney General Jim Hood and any media contact.

The subpoena sent to Zach Scruggs makes the same requests, while the one sent to Jones asks for the original damage report performed Oct. 12, 2005, on the McIntoshes' home, a sticky note that was attached to it and any evidence that shows the two items were in possession of the SKG.

The plaintiffs say Forensic Analysis and Engineering Corp engineer Brian Ford expressed in his original report on the home that wind was mostly to blame, but he filed an amended report once State Farm did not agree with his.

The plaintiffs claim they have a computer instant message from a Forensic employee that shows State Farm would prefer structural damage be attributed to wind.

Filed Under: Hot Topics


COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

No comments have been posted in the last 15 days!

SEND US YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:


* - Required fields

Subject: *
Message: *
Contact Name: *
Contact URL:
Contact Email: *
This Is CAPTCHA Image
Write the characters in the image above: 

E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format

MORE NEWS HEADLINES:
+ DeLaughter rulings not relevant, government argues - 6/25  
+ Feds: Skip pretrial conference in DeLaughter bribery case - 4/13  
+ Zach Scruggs returns to Miss. - 2/26  
+ Adversary wants Scruggs' bribery money - 2/19  
+ A year later, Scruggs singing instead of fighting - 2/17  
+ Two-year sentences for Scruggs' co-conspirators - 2/13  
+ DeLaughter pleads not guilty to Scruggs' bribery scheme - 2/12  
+ Scruggs pleads guilty to second judicial bribery scheme - 2/10  
+ Scruggs apparently pleading guilty to second judicial bribery sch... - 2/6  
+ Scruggs' co-conspirators will soon learn fate - 1/27  


IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
Monday, June 29, 2009
WASHNGTON (Legal Newsline) - The federal government plans to withhold nearly a half-million dollars the next time it doles out Medicaid funding to the State of West Virginia as a result of a settlement engineered by state Attorney General Darrell McGraw.
Read more...


+ The Libby verdict: Did the judge play favorites? - 6/2
+ Sotomayor can expect plenty of scrutiny - 5/26
+ The Libby verdict: Prosecutors make a fatal mistake - 5/21
+ California judge accuses asbestos firms of playing 'grisly games' - 5/5
+ GOP calls for outside counsel reform in wake of Rendell controversy - 4/23
BROWSE BY STATE:
 
BROWSE BY AG:
 
BROWSE BY DATE:
 
LATEST LNL BLOG ENTRIES:
+ Abbott: Beware Dietary Supplement Scams and 'Miracle' Health Claims
+ Abbott's signs of a scam
+ AG McCollum on convicts in the mortgage industry
NEWS WIDGET:
Attention bloggers:
Add Record Headlines to your site!


fast + free- click here

NEWS | CONTACT LEGALNEWSLINE | ABOUT US | ADVERTISE | RSS © 2008 LegalNewsLine.com. All Rights Reserved.