Dickie Scruggs Tries the Wrong Kind of Bribery

Jacob Sullum | June 30, 2008

Richard Scruggs, the Mississippi plaintiffs' attorney who spearheaded the first state lawsuit seeking compensation for tobacco-related medical expenses from cigarette manufacturers, was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday. After Scruggs filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mississippi, many other states joined the shakedown, ultimately resulting in a settlement that brought more than $200 billion to state treasuries and billions more to lawyers like Scruggs, all at the expense of smokers forced to pay higher prices in a market rigged by a government-endorsed conspiracy in restraint of trade. But Scruggs is not going to prison for any of that. Bribing state governments with other people's money in exchange for huge kickbacks is perfectly legal. But bribing a state judge overseeing a dispute regarding your legal fees is not.

[Thanks to Bill Cook for the link.]

Comments

|6.30.08 @ 1:47PM|#

Man, he's fallen a long way from when he was in the Allman Brothers Band.

Naga Sadow|6.30.08 @ 1:48PM|#

Wow! I really thought he would beat the charge. Why didn't he bribe the courtroom? The guys a billionaire.

|6.30.08 @ 2:24PM|#

Legality and morality are two distinct things. Both of the instances sited were immoral. The second was also illegal.

|6.30.08 @ 2:32PM|#

Why hasn't Scruggs been ordered to disgorge fees he earned by bribing judges? That's a lot more money than the $250,000 fine he's been ordered to pay.

DannyK|6.30.08 @ 3:31PM|#

Sorry, I missed the memo: do all court decisions that go against big companies count as bribery, or only this one?

|6.30.08 @ 8:09PM|#

As a bluegrass fan I don't appreciate this man's sullying of the name Scruggs one bit.

I think the judge should've made him apologize to Earl.