Jump to full article: Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger, 2008-06-29
Intro: Hollywood director Michael Mann, in his letter to U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers, said Scruggs "is simply not a boastful man."
Mann directed the 1999 movie, The Insider, about the secrets of the tobacco industry that led to the record $206 billion nationwide settlements Scruggs helped negotiate. Scruggs was a consultant.
"Dick never talked himself up to be more than a hero than was accurate," Mann wrote. . . .
So how did Scruggs, who made up to $800 million in legal fees on tobacco litigation, get involved in a scheme to pay a seemingly paltry $40,000 bribe to a judge?
Scruggs' friends say they're baffled. Scruggs' attorney, John Keker of San Francisco, suggested it might take an author along the lines of a William Faulkner or Walker Percy to explain it all. . . .
Like Jones, two former law partners, Alwyn Luckey and Bob Wilson, sued Scruggs, in 1994, saying he never paid them their share from asbestos and tobacco litigation.
Convinced Scruggs was being "shaken down" by others, Jones said he poured all his might into defending Scruggs.
The case bounced from court to court until both sides agreed to let U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry Davis arbitrate the case involving Luckey in 2005. Davis ordered Scruggs to pay Luckey $17 million.
"The irony is the bulk of the majority of the award was interest because Dickie had litigated it for 12 years," Jones said.
Jones viewed the ruling as a victory since he had successfully protected Scruggs' interests with regard to any legal fees earned from the tobacco litigation.
But Scruggs saw it as an unacceptable defeat, Jones said.
From that point on, Scruggs decided to stop trusting the system that had made him a multimillionaire, Jones said. "I was dealing with a different man emotionally and psychologically."
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