Noted Attorney's Career Is Over
by JIM BEAM - The American Press (excerpt)

A story out of Jackson, Miss., grabbed my attention Friday, but it didn’t get much play in this corner of the state. Richard F. “Dickie” Scruggs, a Mississippi trial attorney, had pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he conspired to bribe a judge.

Scruggs, 61, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is also expected to lose his law license and could face additional charges.

The name rang a bell, and a little research confirmed why. Scruggs was the lead player in a national lawsuit filed against tobacco companies in the 1990s, and 46 states eventually settled the case for more than $206 billion.

“The Insider,” starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, was a 1999 movie made about the tobacco case. Scruggs was played by actor Colm Feore.

The Associated Press described Scruggs as “the multi-millionaire ‘King of Torts’ who combined a shrewd legal mind and aw-shucks, countrylawyer charm to extract billions of dollars from the tobacco and asbestos industries, among others.”

Wal-Mart was reportedly going to be one of his future targets.