Posted on 01/31/2008 3:32:47 PM PST by petitfour
JACKSON, Miss. - Plaintiffs attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, facing corruption and contempt charges in unrelated cases, will invoke the Fifth Amendment if forced to testify in a federal lawsuit involving Mississippi's attorney general, according to court records.
Scruggs is scheduled for a deposition Friday in a lawsuit filed by State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. The insurer accuses Attorney General Jim Hood of using the threat of a criminal investigation to force settlements in civil litigation over Hurricane Katrina damages.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
MS Ping
Would some lawyer please explain? I thought there was no 5th Amendment privilege in a civil case.
(Remember O. J. Simpson?)
Same thing has been going on in arson prosecutions for years . Makes for great resume padding for prosecutors wanting to go to work for insurance defense firms .
If he’s going to be asked questions that have a relation to his crimimal case he can.
Paging Mike Nifong!
I really hope the whole extended Scruggs Gang brings down Hood, and McCoy, and Holland....I can’t think of anything that would do this state more good than that sort of enema.
Are you sure? I thought any such testimony would simply be excluded from a subsequent criminal trial.
(Where are all the lawyers when we need them?)
muskrat had to be in on it too.
LLS
My advice to State Farm’s trial counsel: Roast ‘em! But do it nice and slow!
IANAL but, even if his testimony in the civil case were to be kept out of the criminal trial, the information presented could provide very valuable leads to the investigators in the criminal case. Those leads could turn up other evidence as well.
The right agains self-incrimiation is absolute. No way to sever the criminal charge from the civil trial.
I dunno if Dickie is guilty of the charges against him or not, but what I do know is that he has the cash to withstand a LOT of court action. The guy is loaded huge.
MM (in TX)
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