RICHARD SCRUGGS
(Richard F. Scruggs)
Senator Trent Lott had been a strong supporter of making it harder for consumers to sue companies, and making it harder to win even if they sued. Lott and other conservatives thought up the name of “tort reform” for their effort. However when Hurricane Katrina struck, many people lost their homes and when they went to collect from their insurance companies, most would not pay on the grounds that insurance covered wind damage and not flood damage. So if the storm blew the roof and walls down and then the storm surge flooded, it was hard to prove that the initial damage was from the wind storm and not the subsequent flood. Lott lost his expensive home and he himself had trouble collecting, and all of a sudden lawsuits were not so frivolous any longer.
Richard F. "Dickie" Scruggs is an American former A6A naval aviator, a formerly prominent trial lawyer, now disbarred, and the brother-in-law of former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Scruggs first came to the public eye after successfully suing the asbestos industry on behalf of ill shipyard workers. He later represented the state of Mississippi in the tobacco litigation of the 1990s. He also represented hundreds of homeowners in lawsuits against insurance companies following Hurricane Katrina, and a national class action of patients against HMOs in the early 2000s.
