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Home / MS: Jim Hood – A ‘So-Called’ Attorney GeneralMS: Jim Hood – A ‘So-Called’ Attorney General
Last Updated on Thursday, 12 June 2008 10:22 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 12 June 2008 09:20
Well, at least there’s the lucrative lobbying business for Mr. Hood when he’s done being a “So called” A.G. From the Wall Street Journal:
Lawsuit legend and admitted felon Dickie Scruggs is headed for the Big House, but his methods are continuing to tarnish his partner in lawsuits, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood. Last week, Alabama federal Judge William Acker gave Mr. Hood a well deserved whack for colluding with the trial kingpin to evade a court order in a case regarding Hurricane Katrina claims.
In December, Judge Acker ordered Scruggs to surrender documents improperly obtained by two sisters, Cori and Kerri Rigsby, working for Scruggs as part of his litigation against State Farm insurance. Scruggs had a different idea. Instead of giving the papers to Judge Acker, he handed them to Mr. Hood, claiming that the AG qualified as a “law enforcement official.” At the time, Mr. Hood was suing five insurance companies including State Farm.
Judge Acker isn’t buying. In an 18-page memorandum-opinion last week, he wrote that the Scruggs-Hood maneuver was “too cute by half” and clearly intended to exploit a loophole, rather than comply with the law. The judge added that the “so-called law enforcement official” was really acting as a “friend, associate and close confidant” of the trial lawyer. As such, Mr. Hood’s actions to relieve Scruggs of the documents was as “a co-conspirator . . . and an aider and abetter.”