Tobacco Settlement Lawyer Reports to Prison

Dickie Scruggs is reporting to prison to begin a 5-year sentence for trying to bribe a judge.  He’s the rich trial lawyer who brought the tobacco lawsuit that ultimately led to the multibillion dollar tobacco settlements.  Those settlements raised prices for consumers in order to pay $15 billion in attorneys fees for the trial lawyers hired by state attorneys general to bring them (including lawyers who received fabulous wealth for doing nothing more than bringing copycat lawsuits).   In exchange for protection against competition, the big tobacco companies also agreed to pay billions of dollars annually to state governments, in perpetuity.