The Wall Street Journal-20080115-New Allegations About Scruggs- Court Papers Link Plaintiffs Lawyer To Conspiracy Case
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New Allegations About Scruggs; Court Papers Link Plaintiffs Lawyer To Conspiracy Case
A second set of allegations of conspiring to improperly influence a judge has been raised against high-profile plaintiffs lawyer Richard Scruggs, this time in court papers involving a criminal charge against another lawyer. Joey Langston, a Booneville, Miss., lawyer whom Mr. Scruggs hired to handle a legal-fee dispute stemming from asbestos litigation, has agreed to plead guilty to a charge related to an attempt to illegally influence a judge in the dispute.
Mr. Scruggs wasn't named as a defendant in the new criminal case. But papers filed in federal court in Oxford, Miss., made public yesterday, allege that Mr. Scruggs and others conspired with Mr. Langston to attempt to influence the state judge, Bobby DeLaughter, by arranging to provide Judge DeLaughter with "favorable consideration" for a federal judgeship.
Criminal charges were brought against Mr. Scruggs in November, when he was indicted along with four others on charges of conspiring to bribe a judge in a legal-fee dispute involving proceeds from Hurricane Katrina-related litigation. In December, one of his co-defendants, Timothy Balducci, agreed to plead guilty and cooperate. And news emerged yesterday that another defendant, Steven Patterson, has also agreed to plead guilty and cooperate. Mr. Scruggs and two other defendants, including Mr. Scruggs's son, have pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Scruggs's lawyer defended his client's innocence in the matter concerning Mr. Langston. "Dickie Scruggs did not try to improperly influence Judge DeLaughter," said John Keker. "Judge DeLaughter was never influenced by anybody, as far as Dickie Scruggs knows. Joey Langston apparently has his own problems, but they're not Dickie Scruggs's problems."
A lawyer for Mr. Langston didn't respond to a request for comment. Judge DeLaughter also didn't respond to a request for comment. In an interview with the Associated Press, Judge DeLaughter said he didn't take bribes of any sort in the case and said his rulings were made on a solid legal basis.
Mr. Langston's plea arises out of a dispute involving Mr. Scruggs that dates to 1994. Two former partners of Mr. Scruggs, Alwyn Luckey and William Roberts Wilson Jr., sued Mr. Scruggs over attorneys fees earned in asbestos litigation. After years of litigation, the case was assigned to Judge DeLaughter. Early last year, shortly after Mr. Scruggs hired Mr. Langston to work on the case, Judge DeLaughter made a key ruling in Mr. Scruggs's favor.
The papers unsealed yesterday don't offer specifics as to how Messrs. Scruggs and Langston might have provided the alleged favorable consideration for a federal judgeship for Judge DeLaughter.
While the charge against Mr. Langston carries a possible five-year prison term, the government and Mr. Langston have agreed that the sentence in the case won't be more than three years, his plea agreement says.
