Review from Madison County Journal
Kings of Tort documents fall
by Brian Perry
. . . Left-wing conspiracies suggest Minor is a political prisoner, prosecuted through a Karl Rove conspiracy in the Bush Justice Department. But this book proves a convincing case for Minor’s guilt (already determined by jury of his peers) and shares the evidence of his attempts to cover-up his misdeeds.
Chapter by chapter the book describes legal intrigue: Joey Langston’s $17 million in fees from the MCI-WorldCom litigation; Scruggs’ push against HMOs; Judge Bobby DeLaughter, Langston and former Hinds District Attorney Ed Peters; the personal and political friendships of these players with Attorney General Jim Hood; and the Hurricane Katrina State Farm litigation that led to yet another fee dispute between Scruggs and a former partner, Johnny Jones of Jackson.
The book describes Jones v Scruggs as the lynchpin case in the mind of Scruggs to protect his financial empire. If he settled or lost Jones, it might weaken his defense in Wilson or Luckey. A loss on those cases would threaten his tobacco fees. He needed a victory when Jones appeared before Judge Henry Lackey and dispatched Balducci to create advantage.
The remainder of the book tells of the investigation, prosecution, and negotiations of Operation Benchmark and the cases generally referred to as Scruggs I and Scruggs II. The book also discloses the questioning of then U.S. Senator Trent Lott by phone and later in person regarding his call to DeLaughter on behalf of Scruggs (Lott’s wife’s brother-in-law), and reveals the thoughts inside the U.S. Attorney’s Office at the announcement of Lott’s retirement - the day before the FBI raided the Scruggs Law Firm’s offices on the square in Oxford.
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