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Dickie Scruggs
U.S. District Judge Michael Mills made the remarks in responding to State Farm's motion to clarify his Friday order and extended the deadline until which Scruggs has to submit to the company's questions to 5 p.m. Tuesday. Mills threatened the parties with contempt if the deposition is not performed. His Friday order gave a 5 p.m Monday deadline. "It was the court's intent, as should have been clear to all parties, that Scruggs' deposition be completed by this time," Mills wrote. "However, Scruggs refused to make himself available for deposition prior to 3 p.m. on Monday, and he appears to have used the 5 p.m. deadline for tactical purposes, to limit the duration and scope of State Farm's deposition. "This is clearly unacceptable, and the court will not tolerate any further attempts to violate its Feb. 1 order." Hood sued State Farm and four other insurance companies weeks after 2005's Hurricane Katrina, arguing that they misrepresented the amount of damage covered by their policies was done by the storm. He also opened a criminal investigation. The sides reached a settlement that was later disallowed by a federal judge, and State Farm claims Hood is attempting to reopen the criminal investigation he agreed to drop in order to force civil settlements. Scruggs, meanwhile, has been in the middle of Katrina litigation. He formed the Scruggs Katrina Group with a handful of other firms, which made $26.5 million in attorneys fees in an approved settlement of State Farm cases Through a pair of sisters who worked for a claims-adjusting company, Scruggs, known nationally for his role in litigation against tobacco companies that led to a settlement worth $246 billion to 52 participating states and territories, came into possession of confidential documents that he says shows State Farm's guilt. When ordered by an Alabama federal judge to return the documents to State Farm's attorneys, he gave them to Hood. For that, Scruggs, a campaign contributor to Hood, has been charged with criminal contempt in Alabama. He has also been charged with conspiring to bribe a state judge in a dispute over the Katrina attorneys fees and faces a maximum 75-year sentence. His attorney, John Keker of San Francisco, said Scruggs will exercise his Fifth Amendment rights, and Hood asked that the deposition be called off because it would be costly and not result in any testimony. State Farm argued that a negative inference can be drawn from any questions Scruggs refuses to answer. "General Hood is clearly concerned that his co-conspirator will either tell the truth or invoke the Fifth Amendment on specific questions related to their extortion conspiracy," the company wrote. State Farm attorney Barney Robinson submitted a string of e-mails written between he and Scruggs' defense team over the weekend. Keker wrote that the earlier a deposition could take place was Monday because he was undergoing a minor operation that requires full anesthetic -- "not that it's any of your business," he wrote to Robinson. "Why you are in a big hurry to have a deposition that you know will result in no testimony is a mystery to me, but since (Judge) Mills said we had until 5 p.m. on Monday to participate in this deposition we are taking advantage of his clear order so that I may be on the phone with a quasi-clear head," Keker wrote. Robinson wrote back that Scruggs' refusal to be deposed before 3 p.m. put State Farm in "an untenable timing position." Filed Under: Hot Topics Comments on this article
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