In 1971 he married Diane Thompson, a sister of Tricia Thompson Lott, wife of Trent Lott. The credit goes to my wife. Shes just emerged from the anointed KLK house, a well-manicured chicken coop with a hay-covered floor in the back of Dickie and Diane Scruggs Oxford residence. The Scruggs, who recently celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary, live in the home they built in Oxford in 2003. Atlanta was a hell hole of filth, noise and 23-hour-per-day lockup where only the orderlies had any freedom because they were responsible for food delivery and cleanup, such as it was, Scruggs says. Scruggs remains free on a $2 million bond until Monday, when he voluntarily re-enters Federal Camp Montgomery in Alabama to complete his sentence handed down for his 2009 guilty plea in a scheme to bribe then-Hinds Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter, who presided over another lawsuit against Scruggs and others. Look at what we gathered, the second-grader says, beaming with pride as her grandparents and a guest look on. He passes musician Charlie Mars on the Square, who gives Dickie an early cut of his new CD, a friends-only gift. Zach was hired as Second Chances executive director, moving his family back to Oxford in 2016. Once Dickie got a job as an adult education instructor, his life began to change. Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. Not at all, I tell him, meaning every word. Elsewhere, Allan Christie (Alexander Vlahos) resurfaced in the wake of Malva's . [23], In 2003, Scruggs tried and won a national class action against Lehman Brothers, with a verdict of $51 million for financing a predatory lending scheme. But he found a soft landing in Oxford, he says, largely because Diane had worked to make a home here while I was away. Relationships were intact, new ones formed and Dianes community work and church involvement made Dickies return seamless. [12], One of his first big legal victories was in representing workers at the Pascagoula shipyard who became fatally ill as a result of exposure to asbestos fibers. (Sen. Trent Lott and Scruggs are brothers-in-law, and they affectionately call each other "my no-good, scum-sucking brother-in-law.'') Who's Afraid Of Dickie Scruggs? - Newsweek It is a huge risk. Browns publicity company says the temporary disability is the result of complications from diabetes, prescribed medication for the condition, hypertension and stress. . Back To All Articles. The headlines, bad as they were, become potholes in a longer road traveled. Weekly recaps during Mississippi's annual legislative session, plus breaking alerts and weekly updates throughout the year, from our state politics team. Today's lawyer . 17 and worth $15 million. Rats and roaches were everywhere, he says about the Atlanta nightmare where sensory deprivation was the rule. [8], Kings of Tort, by Alan Lange and Tom Dawson, released in 2009, documents the rise and fall of Scruggs. Up by 5:30, hed shower, eat breakfast and go to work. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. Scruggs pleads guilty in Miss. conspiracy case - NBC News But Dickie says with a smile that it beats rolling plastic napkins for $5 a day. No. That changed one evening in early 1984, when he received a call at home from a shipyard worker who had been having breathing problems. Your gift purchase was successful! No. Scruggs has a 120-ft. motor yacht from which he watched the America's Cup races off New Zealand. Our game coverage from football, basketball and baseball, plus breaking updates and our best reads. But when Dickies appeal was denied in 2012 he returned to prison for one last year to complete his sentence, putting that conversation on hold. I still feel bad about getting Zach tangled up in everything. Under the heading of "no good deed goes unpunished", the Scruggs legal team is attempting to spit it back in the government's face by fighting technicalities on the lesser charges the pleaded guilty to. Scruggs rose to prominence by successfully fighting the asbestos industry on behalf of sick shipyard employees. Maybe stronger, as time tends to bind. Its our sorority house, Dickie says, alluding to the structures exterior design and the KLK letters adorning the coop that stand for cluck. [13][14] Scruggs eventually won a settlement and earned $6 million from the state in legal fees. Once known as the King of Torts, he had phenomenal success with mass tort litigation on asbestos exposure in shipyard workers and then against Big Tobacco. I was in there for bribery. 129,323. We have laughed because hes still quick with a quip: Im paying for lunch, he says. [30] He was also fined $100,000. A curious inmate came back to him a few days later to report that the prisons top inmate, a well-read man, learned about Scruggs Ashland destination in the Wall Street Journal and informed everybody else that he was good., Scruggs said his roommate, serving a 26-year term for drugs, told him he was glad to know Scruggs was a legitimate criminal.. Dickie Scruggs was on plane just before crash. He has also pledged $30 million to charities and endowments. He read Margaret Mitchells 1,472-page Gone with the Wind, a work he says that left a profound impact. Are you a Monroe Journal subscriber? The feds had Dickie's butt in a sling in Scruggs I and II and let him plead guilty to lesser charges to avoid further damage. The University of Mississippi graduate and former Navy pilot, disbarred for his convictions, talked with the Daily Journal about a wide range of subjects: What he craved during his first five years of incarceration. He gets the humor, that packing crowds in at Mississippi civic clubs for weekday lunch engagements has little resemblance to the life he once lived as one of the worlds most in influential trial lawyers with a sellable Hollywood storyline and someone with whom national politicians sought favor. He also was told it would be his home for 18 months and, later, he figured out that authorities deemed him a flight risk because of his financial resources and a home outside the U.S. Scruggs laughed when he recalled Ashlands cafeteria, where he ate his first prison meal. [2], In total, Scruggs' firm Scruggs, Millette, Bozeman and Dent earned about $900 million in legal fees from the judgments, with about one third going to Scruggs. Giacomo Bologna Mississippi Clarion Ledger 0:03 0:36 Three people died Saturday afternoon after their plane. By this time, former Booneville attorney Joey Langston was released from the Montgomery facility, where hed served his three-year sentence in the DeLaughter case. Like most people, I had seen the movie, Dickie says. The 20 Richest Lawyers in America - Money Inc Dickie Scruggs Sentenced to Five Years. Reviled by many as the kingpin of Mississippis most notorious legal scandal six years ago, he says hes found a new life from the darkness of shame and drug abuse. Earlier today, the Journal had an illuminating page-one feature on Dickie Scruggs's history of fee disputes with other lawyers. Leaving her husband in prison shook Diane, the culmination of a dizzying year in harsh reality. Or it wouldnt have been so easy.. She stayed here and kept her head up, kept involved in civic, church and literary activities. The playhouse was inside a garage and the building itself nearly burned to the ground. He is no longer a colleague, and never again will he be, but he is trying to make a difference in our poor, undereducated state, and that deserves applause and encouragement, no matter who is doing it. In 1993, Michael Moore, the telegenic state attorney general in Mississippi (he plays himself in "The Insider''), was mulling over a strategy for going after tobacco companies. Success! At Montgomery, Scruggs began to tutor other inmates and by June 2011 earned his way into a G.E.D. But this isnt about Dick Scruggs writing a check. '', But critics say Scruggs is grossly overstepping his role as a trial lawyer by suing a company as a means to changing the way health care is delivered. You have permission to edit this article. That was a long day, Dickie says. The tobacco agreement ultimately collapsed, and the industry turned to settling with the states. "[18] Following a ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court stating that HMOs could be sued, as opposed to only doctors, Scruggs led a new set of lawsuits against American HMOs. They whooped and hollered. And he's easy to spot in the blue-collar town of Pascagoula, Miss., as he picks up the dry cleaning in a new $300,000 Bentley convertible. [25] Scruggs, who was later recorded saying he would take care of what he was told was a request from the judge for an additional payment, pleaded guilty in Federal Court on March 14, 2008. His fame took root in the 1990s, when he won settlements for shipyard workers in Pascagoula, Miss., who had been exposed to asbestos. More than 1,000 students have completed a GED or skill certification. Create a password that only you will remember. Scruggs's stately Colonial along "The Beach,'' a two-mile-long row of gracious homes by the water, is now recognizable to many as the setting for a number of scenes in "The Insider.'' Presley Blake, a political consultant who had once been represented by Scruggs in bankruptcy proceedings, interceded and arranged for Patterson and Scruggs to meet. The books title: On Bullshit, the New York Times best-seller by Harry G. Frankfurt. It was an Ole Miss connection that drew Scruggs into the historic plan to take on Big Tobacco. Scruggs didn't always travel in such tony company and was a bit wild as a boy. The tobacco industry was spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to defend itself in court. They recognized that awareness and funds to get more Mississippians an equivalency diploma wasnt enough. Scruggs and his wife, Diane, were ardent supporters of the University of Mississippi and made large donations to several organizations on campus. Thats nice, I say. Besides his private jet, he owns a 120-foot yacht, a 40-foot sailboat and two vacation homes. "Dickie was definitely like a brother,'' he says. [25][27] On June 26, 2008, he was sentenced to five years in prison for the bribery charge. Why this Delta gas station is one of Mississippi Shrimp and Beer: The Best Ole Miss Party (Ever). But his battle plan went wrong. Scruggs didn't invent these approaches, and class actions have been around for decades. Judge Glen H. Davidson imposed his sentence and quoted the Scottish philosopher William Barclay: "The Romans had a proverb that money was like sea water. Dick, the numbers have improved a little, but they are generally still the same, Zach says, prepping his father for When word spread that Scruggs was willing to front the money for medical evaluations, he soon had hundreds of clients. Scruggs paid for the client's medical tests which revealed the medical ailment to be asbestosis. Joe Brown. After working for some large law firms in Jackson, Miss., he moved his family back to Pascagoula in 1980 to hang out his own shingle, and settled into a prosperous but unremarkable career handling a variety of cases. Richard F. "Dickie" Scruggs (born May 17, 1946) is an American former naval aviator and disbarred trial lawyer. Scruggs's stately Colonial along "The Beach,'' a two-mile-long row of gracious homes by the water, is now recognizable to many as the setting for a number of scenes in "The Insider.'' Are you a New Albany Gazette subscriber? Money Inc. decided to put him on the list because he was the wealthiest practicing lawyer in the United States at the time he died. An Oxford couple took a fixer-upper and made it into th Why the worlds best dogs are trained in Oxford, Mississippi, Willie, Emma and Me: On Willie Morris love for dogs, Your guide to a weekend Water Valley getaway, The Foxfire Ranch Tradition- Where Southern Roots Sprout from Old to Youth. I reached out and told them what I had been doing, and we had a meeting, Scruggs said. Dickie Scruggs mounted one of his trademark assaults on State Farm after Katrina. When he got out of prison, Scruggs feared that he might be shunned by people. 3 is Wichai Thongtang, described as a powerful lawyer in Thailand who is worth $1.1 billion. Possibly because its on the Maxwell Air Force Base, Scruggs speculates that military customs influence its operation clean, organized, well-managed and well-run. Choose wisely! He terms his two-month withdrawal from the drug terrible, but said one day he realized that he finally felt good. The guilty plea. Disbarred Dickie Scruggs called world's richest lawyer - The Clarion-Ledger The Dickie Scruggs Tapes - WSJ ", Aetna has called Scruggs's accusations "outrageous," and promised to defend itself aggressively. When he came to know that the GED. The second time is at this moment we are sitting in the den. Among the more coveted jobs to get in prison isteaching. Inmates could walk around inside the camp and live with some privacy in a large dormitory with two-man cubicles. Richard Scruggs - Wikipedia Im spending a lot of time with Dickie recently, in the car driving to Jackson, eating lunch at Saint Leo and McEwens all focused on real efforts to try and solve some world problems including substance abuse and the uneducated, unskilled workforce. A LOCALLY OWNED NEWSPAPER DEDICATED TO THE SERVICE OF GOD AND MANKIND. [33][42] Scruggs has partnered with the Mississippi Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training program (MIBEST), which provides a remedial education and marketable skills to students seeking a GED. Over the years, Richard F. "Dickie" Scruggs earned a reputation as one of the nation's wiliest and most powerful plaintiff's attorneys. Scruggs was assigned to an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea during the ArabIsraeli conflict of October 1973, where he was stationed aboard the carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt during the nuclear alert triggered by the Soviet threat to intervene in the ArabIsraeli War. Then she picked herself up, got involved in Oxford, and got busy with life to keep it all together.. So its hard to complain.. "It's an abusive process to sue a company for one purpose when your real purpose is to get them to agree to some kind of political agenda,'' said James Wootton, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform.