A Mississippi judge says he disqualified himself from hearing several lawsuits because federal authorities were investigating allegations that powerful plaintiffs attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs tried to illegally influence him in a different case.
Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter had presided over at least one lawsuit that Scruggs and other lawyers filed against several companies over the exposure to toxic fumes from welding equipment.
Between Jan. 4 and Jan. 8, DeLaughter recused himself from that case and at least nine others against Lincoln Electric Co., a Cleveland, Ohio-based welding equipment maker, court records show. In each case, DeLaughter said he withdrew “in order to avoid even the appearance of any impropriety.”
On Jan. 7, attorney Joseph Langston pleaded guilty in a federal court in Oxford, Miss., to conspiring with Scruggs to illegally influence DeLaughter in a dispute with other lawyers over fees from asbestos litigation.
Langston and Scruggs represented Troy Smith, of Poplarville, Miss., in a lawsuit against Lincoln Electric and several other companies. The case, which was assigned to DeLaughter in May 2004, is one of many that Scruggs and his associates have filed over exposure to fumes from welding rods.
On the same day that Langston pleaded guilty, Smith’s lawyers filed court papers seeking a judge’s approval to dismiss the suit. Circuit Judge W. Swan Yerger, who took over the case from DeLaughter, signed off on the case’s dismissal on Jan. 10.
DeLaughter has denied accepting any bribes and has defended a ruling that favored Scruggs in the asbestos case. DeLaughter isn’t charged with any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors haven’t indicated that Smith’s case is part of a judicial bribery investigation that has ensnared Scruggs.
DeLaughter and a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee didn’t immediately respond to calls for comment Friday.
John Keker, an attorney for Scruggs, said his client never tried to influence DeLaughter.
“We don’t believe Judge DeLaughter was influenced, and if Joey Langston is worried about something, it’s Joey Langston’s problem, not Dickie Scruggs’,” Keker said Friday.
Brandy Bergman, a spokeswoman for the companies named as defendants in Smith’s suit, declined to comment on DeLaughter’s handling of the case.
In a Jan. 4 order in Smith’s case, DeLaughter said he was recusing himself “because there has been recent publicity that federal authorities are investigating a previous case” before him involving one of the same lawyers involved in Smith’s case. DeLaughter didn’t name that attorney in his one-page order, although court records show Langston was to represent Smith at trial.
Scruggs is the brother-in-law of former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and has made millions of dollars from tobacco and asbestos litigation. His work on a multibillion dollar settlement with tobacco companies is portrayed in the 1999 film “The Insider,” starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe.
On Nov. 28, a grand jury in Oxford indicted Scruggs, his son and law partner, Zach, and three others on charges they tried to bribe Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey for a favorable ruling in a dispute over fees from a mass settlement of Hurricane Katrina insurance lawsuits.
Lackey reported the alleged bribery overture to authorities and is cooperating with investigators.
Scruggs hasn’t been charged with trying to illegally influence DeLaughter, but a prosecutor said Scruggs dispatched intermediaries to tell DeLaughter that “if he ruled in his favor he would pass his name along for consideration regarding the federal judgeship.”
Former Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters, a friend of DeLaughter’s, allegedly passed that message along to DeLaughter. Langston had hired Peters and paid him $1 million, prosecutors said.
At one point, prosecutors said, DeLaughter e-mailed Peters a rough draft of a planned opinion in the asbestos fee dispute. Peters was able to share it with Langston and other Scruggs associates before the judge filed it, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors claim Langston, Peters and former state Auditor Steve Patterson split $3 million that Scruggs saved as a result of a favorable ruling by DeLaughter that resulted in a settlement of the case.
The Clarion-Ledger reported Saturday that DeLaughter had removed himself from hearing any cases involving lawyers associated with the abestos case. The newspaper quoted Jackson attorney Bill Kirksey as saying the judge “entered an order to recuse himself because of the federal investigation. No one asked him to.” The newspaper said DeLaughter didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Kirksey was among the attorneys who presented the plaintiff in the legal fees dispute.
Smith’s case was scheduled to be tried in April 2007, but DeLaughter declared a mistrial because there weren’t enough jurors available, court records show. DeLaughter scheduled a new trial for June 2008 before Smith’s attorneys agreed to dismiss the case, according to Bergman.
Smith had blamed welding fumes for causing a neurological impairment, but the companies he sued accused him of misrepresenting his condition.
In court papers filed in October 2007, lawyers for the defendants said they obtained surveillance videotape that showed Smith driving to a post office and acting “in a manner directly contrary to the apparent severe disabilities” diagnosed by his neurologist.
The defendants had asked DeLaughter to dismiss Smith’s suit due to his “dishonest conduct,” but Bergman said the judge hadn’t ruled on that request before he recused himself from the case.
Topics Lawsuits Legislation Mississippi
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