Richard “Dickie” Scruggs is by now heading to a federal prison in Kentucky, where he’ll be wearing an orange jumpsuit and doing good works like clearing trash along our nation’s highways. Following his sentence of five years in prison, you’d think the worst is over for the King of Torts.
But Dickie has had a […]

For many years, Mississippi was the pit, a dark and hopeless hellhole for physicians and defendants at the mercy of the trial bar.
Then Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove called a special session to bring down medical-malpractice premiums. In 2004, the next governor—Republican Haley Barbour—convened another special session to limit pain-and-suffering awards in medical cases, and […]

Dickie Scruggs, who gained fame and considerable fortune in the 1990s for his part in suing large corporations for billions, was sentenced today to five years in prison for conspiracy to bribe a judge. Scruggs’ son will be sentenced next week for his role in this family affair.
There are a lot of lessons one could […]

Steve Moore of the WSJ had a terrific piece over the weekend on the nexus between tort reform and economic growth in Mississippi under Governor Haley Barbour.
As Moore points out, prior to Gov. Barbour’s election, Mississippi was hemorrhaging jobs and specializing in lottery-sized jury verdicts. Since enacting common sense legal reforms – including reasonable […]

American companies “have no interest in the rights of individuals.” This little bit of anti-business bias – courtesy of a Sid Salter column in the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger – wasn’t spewed by Ralph Nader, Bill Lerach or any other well-known corporate haters. It was uttered by Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz.
The question of whether […]