Mississippi seems like the wild west of litigation.  When personal injury attorneys here speak of  the Bronx with reverence, it pales in comparison.  Here is a story of big tobacco, big tobacco litigation, big law and big bribes.  This might even be a reason for senatorial resignation!

"An attorney who helped negotiate a multibillion-dollar settlement against tobacco companies in the 1990s and has sued insurers over unpaid Hurricane Katrina claims was indicted in a suspected scheme to bribe a Mississippi judge.

The indictment accuses Richard "Dickie" Scruggs of conspiring to pay the judge $50,000 to rule in his favor in a lawsuit brought by other attorneys who sought fees for work on Katrina insurance litigation.

Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey reported the "bribery overture" to federal authorities and agreed to assist investigators in an "undercover capacity," according to the indictment.

Scruggs, whose brother-in-law is Republican U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, earned millions from asbestos litigation and from his role in brokering a multibillion-dollar settlement with tobacco companies in the mid-1990s. "