attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to bribe a judge in front of whom he had a pending case

attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, a high profile plaintiff personal injury attorney from Mississippi, was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to bribe a judge in front of whom he had a pending case.Mr. Scruggs and his firm made its reputation in suits against tobacco and asbestos companies and represented Hurricane Katrina victims in actions against insurers that had denied policy holders' claims.
In an attorney fee dispute case arising out of the Katrina cases, Mr. Scruggs and his firm found themselves defendants. According to the indictment against Mr. Scruggs, he conspired to bribe the trial court judge in the fee dispute case to enter an order sending the claim to binding arbitration. Scruggs felt he would pay less by having an arbitration panel, rather than a jury, determine what he owed the attorney who sued him over the division of the Katrina case legal fees.All attempts to subvert the legal process are reprehensible, and must be punished. Not surprisingly, Mr. Scruggs case has been reported by the "tort reform" folks with great rejoicing. Mr. Dan Pero, the dean of reasoned, objective, in-depth analysis, has written a blog piece about it, filed in his "trial lawyer" category, reserved for examples of conduct of which he does not approve (very broadly defined) by trial attorneys. (Exclusively defined as those attorneys representing plaintiffs in personal injury actions. Apparently the American Justice Partnership cannot envision any possible misconduct by attorneys representing insurance companies or corporations.)

By the way, the "Tort Reform" and "Trial Lawyer" categories of Mr. Pero's blog are intended to show why the country needs more rules to curb the greed of injury victims and those who represent them. Interestingly, there is no category entitled "Corporate Greed". I mention this because about the same time as Mr. Scruggs was sentenced, the most recent in a series of federal indictments were handed down in the continuing FBI probe of mortgage fraud across the nation (Mortgage Probe Results in Six Indictments). Corruption and lax business practice in the pursuit of profits in the mortgage and banking industries have helped pave the nation's path to recession. Yet, there is not one reference to such greed and such criminal activity in the American Justice Partnership's American Courthouse blog. Search if you like. I have. Perhaps I should consult the Michigan Supreme Court's Library of Dictionaries for the proper definition of "justice".
What Mr. Pero and the AJP fail to recognize is that, in reviewing the Scruggs case, the "tort reformers" and the various Chambers of Commerce have more in common with Dickie Scruggs than they would care to admit.
Mr. Scruggs, the defendant in the fee dispute, wanted the judge to order the case into arbitration, figuring he would do better there than in front of a jury. I assume he felt that if his actions were reviewed by a jury of average citizens, that the facts might yield a result not in his best financial interest. So, he tried to engage in a little private "tort reform" of his own, by bribing the judge to take the case away from the jury.