NU Online News Service, May 31, 12:00 p.m. EDT

Former prominent Mississippi plaintiffs' attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, reviled for his pursuit of insurance companies following Hurricane Katrina, lost a bid to get out of prison.

Scruggs, known as the “King of Torts” for his tobacco, asbestos and insurance-related lawsuits, lost a motion to vacate one of two convictions for attempting to bribe two state circuit court judges.

Scruggs is currently serving a 7-year sentence at a prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., after pleading guilty in 2008 to charges that he attempted to bribe the judges in order to get a favorable ruling concerning the division of legal fees in asbestos and Katrina-related insurance settlements.

According to court documents in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, Scruggs attempts to use recent case law to convince Judge Glen H. Davidson that the scheme to bribe the judge in the asbestos case “did not involve the core requirement of a bribe.” Therefore, Scruggs says, he is innocent of the crime to which he pleaded guilty.

Scruggs' team told then-Judge Bobby DeLaughter that Scruggs could use the influence of his brother-in-law, then-Sen. Trent Lott, to get DeLaughter a federal judgeship in return for a favorable ruling.

But since the offer was verbal, it cannot constitute a thing of value and therefore it cannot be quid pro quo—a core requirement of a bribe, claims Scruggs.

Judge Davidson disagrees, saying “the evidence overwhelmingly shows that [Scruggs] had specific intent to offer the lure of a federal judgeship to then-Judge Bobby DeLaughter to obtain a favorable ruling in the litigation pending before him.”

Scruggs filed papers May 30 to take his argument to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The DeLaughter bribery case followed Scruggs' indictment on charges related to the attempted bribery of Judge Henry Lackey.

Scruggs and his son, as well as several associates, conspired to bribe Lackey in hopes of getting a favorable ruling in a case involving the split of about $26.5 million in legal fees from a settlement with State Farm.

Lackey reported the bribe attempt to authorities and worked with investigators.

Special Reports /

Scruggs Loses Attempt to Vacate Conviction, Files Appeal

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