Day: April 17, 2008

Give-em-hell Harry right about reports on Todd Graves

You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgments about what is going on.
No argument from me, Harry, I just finished a read-around – and Kansas City Star quotes Todd Graves saying he was in Disney World on March 11, the date of the “trailer meeting” with the Rigsby sisters.

Graves says any suggestion linking him to a meeting on March 11 — about two weeks before he officially left office — is wrong.

“I can’t more categorically or unequivocally say that’s…absolutely ridiculous,” Graves told Prime Buzz.

“Someone pieced together three things that don’t go together,” he said. “March 11 (the day of the alleged meeting) was a Saturday. I was at Disney World,” Graves said.

It will be interesting to track back and see how Graves name got linked to the story in the first place – for now, I’ll just point out that Missouri is the “show me” state.

Bet the Rigsby sister’s Missouri attorneys have plenty to show on Friday, Sop.

Shows Takes Expected Hit

While we await Friday’s responses in Ex Rel Rigsby there were other developments yesterday with the litigation involving the Katrina Litigation Group.  As we expected the racketeering suit was dealt a blow with the disqualification of the Rigsby sisters and the Katrina Litigation Group. The issues in Shows were virtually identical to McIntosh and other policyholder lawsuits involving the old Scruggs Katrina Group. It will be interesting to see how this suit in particular is impacted as Racketeering is specialized litigation that requires deep pockets to litigate. My blog partner Nowdy tells me the McIntosh family has retained Chip Merlin to represent them. Excellent choice IMHO.  Here is today’s Anita Lee Sun Herald story:

A federal judge on Wednesday disqualified from a Katrina lawsuit all former Scruggs Katrina Group attorneys, who in June 2007 filed a racketeering case against State Farm and its vendors. Continue reading “Shows Takes Expected Hit”

“That’s the Biggest Bunch of Bull I’ve Ever Heard”

This post title is a quote from today’s Sun Herald given by Mike Moore in response to an allegation made by Judge Henry Lackey that parrots an often repeated State Farm PR talking point regarding Jim Hood being pressured by Mike Moore on behalf of Dickie Scruggs to drop his criminal investigation of State Farm. I’m unsure how Judge Lackey would know such things but perhaps it does illuminate how the man thinks and operates.  My blog partner Nowdy has covered Judge Lackey’s sometimes confusing testimony here and here for those interested. Here is today’s story:

Attorney General Jim Hood denies his predecessor delivered a warning that a wealthy lawyer would fund an opponent in last year’s election if Hood didn’t cooperate in Hurricane Katrina litigation. 

The allegation was made by Lafayette County Circuit Judge Henry Lackey, who is at the center of a judicial bribery scandal that toppled some of the most powerful attorneys in Mississippi. Continue reading ““That’s the Biggest Bunch of Bull I’ve Ever Heard””