Lawyer: Lott ‘Initiated Contact With People Surrounding’ Insurance Fraud Lawsuit
Lawyer: Lott ‘Initiated Contact With People Surrounding’ Insurance Fraud Lawsuit
During a deposition last week, Jim Robie, an attorney for State Farm Insurance, alleged that former Mississippi senator Trent Lott had “urged witnesses to give false information in a Hurricane Katrina lawsuit.” Questioning Lott’s nephew, Zach Scruggs, Robie asked if it had been his “custom” to have Lott “contact and encourage witnesses to give false information.” Scruggs refused to answer, invoking the Fifth Amendment.
In an interview with LegalNewsline, Robie said Lott had “initiated contact with people surrounding” the case involving alleged efforts to “defraud” State Farm:
“Clearly, the record couldn’t be more plain that Sen. Lott and his associates were talking to people that were key advisers to Mr. Scruggs, paid consultants and those who were creating an illusion that simply doesn’t have any basic fact,” Robie told Legal Newsline on Thursday. […]
Robie said Lott, a leading Republican, initiated contact with people surrounding this case, something unprecedented for a U.S. Senator.
“Have you ever had a U.S. Senator call you?” he asked rhetorically.
A spokesman for Lott’s lobbying firm told Legal Newsline that “the former senator had no interest in justifying the implication with a response.”
Lott has previously been reported to have used his position in the Senate to put pressure on State Farm. In May, the New Yorker reported:
Charles Chamness, the C.E.O. of a national insurance trade association, has claimed that Lott had threatened him, in a telephone call, with “bringing down State Farm and the industry.” Lott also co-sponsored a proposal to strip the insurance industry of an antitrust exemption that had been in place since the nineteen-forties.
Robie says “he will continue his efforts to depose both Richard and Zach Scruggs, during which he will probe the influence of Lott.”
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Fu(k it…if there is an “R” after your name and you have been in politics, you should be in jail.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:56 pmWatch them taunt each other from adjoining cells.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:16 pmIt’s what rats do when they are cornered, eat thier own. Watch for more of it in the future.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 amafgans have the taliban…. america has republicans…
know your enemy.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:07 amLott vs. State Farm
Truly a dilemma: the choice between two undesirable options.
Prove that old adage: therte is no honor among theives.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:40 amJust another white collar criminal and Repugnant co-conspirator!
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:43 amUh, try to figure out who’s telling the truth and work from there.
I know, Tanq, it’s a concept foreign to you, but work with it a little bit. It just might change your life.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:50 amWelcome to GOP World: profit over principles and to hell with morals and the truth. At least Lott had the good sense to jump the sinking GOP ship to cash in before it all goes under n November.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 amRepublican on Republican crime. Very ugly.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:09 amDoncha jus LUV that tan-in-a-can?
Lott’s skin’s the same color as Ronnie Raygun’s worst hair day.
On top of that, there’s the fact that Trent’s just about the sleaziest futhermocker ever to break an oath of office. What slime-scum. He doesn’t walk, he oozes. Somebody, please, hit the shit-heel with a bus…
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 amJeebos these guy’s are all starting to look alike….I had to take a second look to see if it was Lott or Bohner…The tanning salon’s sure have a lot of business with these guy’s, think they go to the same hair stylest also…..Blessings
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:29 am“Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)”
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:29 am- GWBUSH™
Fan of Man Says:
afgans have the taliban…. america has republicans…
know your enemy.
===================================================
Was going to post something but Fan of Man says it all.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:30 amRobie says “he will continue his efforts to depose both Richard and Zach Scruggs, during which he will probe the influence of Lott.”
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:42 amHope he uses latex gloves…
Dixiecrat once was Tweedle-D now R-Tweedledum
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:48 amHere is a little background information:
The Bush flooding of New Orleans: an unnatural disaster.
To the Editor:
“We don’t care, we don’t care” was the chant of pro-war, pro-Bush hecklers across the street from the Camp Casey peace vigil in Crawford, Texas in late August, 2005. This “we don’t care” chant pretty much sums up the attitude of the Bush Syndicate (B. S.) towards the rest of us in America. Actually, Bush, Cheney and the rest of this idiotic neo-con government believes that the only true function of the federal government is to create private money-making opportunities for themselves, their friends, and their corporate contributors. Any activity other than waging aggressive war to steal and colonize other countries’ natural resources falls into the category of “we don’t care.”
The Bush flood of New Orleans happened after the massive Hurricane Katrina had passed the city. It was both predictable and preventable. The Bush flood and the slow-as-molasses-in-January Bush response to it has ripped off the facade of the inept Bush Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its subsidiary, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The upper echelons of both of these massive federal bureaucracies have been staffed by incompetent and uncaring Bush buddies, cronies, hacks, frat brothers, former roommates, horse attorneys, contributors and other miscellaneous nincompoops. In making his appointments to the executive management of DHS and FEMA, Bush gave little if any thought to their actual qualifications in the field of emergency management.
Over the last several years, Bush and the GOP-controlled House and Senate have poured over one hundred billion tax dollars into “Homeland Security.” What did we get as the federal response to Hurricane Katrina? We got homeland stupidity. After the massive flooding of New Orleans, which initially covered about eighty percent of the city, thousands of residents were herded to the Superdome where they denied water, food, medicine, bedding, toilet facilities and police protection for several long days, meanwhile the Bush gang partied and carried on with their “business as usual” and “let them eat cake” imperial attitudes. George strummed his guitar, raised campaign funds, cut cake with Senator McCain, while Connie Rice did her Imelda Marcos imitation, shopping for expensive shoes in New York City before going to a Broadway play, while Cheney first went on vacation, fishing in Wyoming and then mansion shopping in Maryland, and Rumsfeld went to a professional ball game.
In the first several days of the flooding of New Orleans cable news reporters had to point out the severity of the suffering of thousands of people in the Superdome to the heads of FEMA and DHS. These two had apparently followed the lead of the ever-clueless Bush by not watching the unfolding disaster being revealed on television.
The searing images of human suffering that were shown on television in the first several days after the flooding of New Orleans showed thousands of poor people herded into the Louisiana Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center without any water, any food, any medicines, any toilet facilities, any bedding or any police protection.
The conduct of the inept corrupt Bush regime in this unnatural disaster (the Bush flood and the slow spastic Bush response of flood relief) is nothing short of criminal. Since the illegitimate Bush regime came to power in January 2001, they have allowed and encouraged massive developments in the natural low-lying wetlands around New Orleans. The presence of these wetlands traditionally helped to protect New Orleans from the storm surges which accompany hurricanes.
The first actions of FEMA after Hurricane Katrina and Flood Bush struck New Orleans was to try to stop almost all of the volunteer, state and federal help from coming into the disaster area. FEMA blocked volunteer help from WalMart, the Coast Guard, the Red Cross, AMTRAK, hundreds of airboats from Florida, the City of Chicago emergency teams, Loudoun County (Virginia) sheriffs, the Nevada police, the New Mexico National Guard, fire-fighting planes from the U. S. Forest Service and even the U. S. Bataan, a hospital ship stationed in the Gulf of Mexico. FEMA also stopped or ignored offers of help from foreign countries including Canada, Cuba and Venezuela, over twenty European counties and Asian countries including Iran and India.
One supposes that volunteer help and aid undercuts the Bush Syndicates system of private corporations making bags of money off of the Bush war on Iraq and the Bush expedited flooding of New Orleans.
It is troubling to see many no-bid federal contracts being given to large corporations for reconstruction along the Gulf Coast. The terms of “no-bid contracts” mean that the corporations get to charge their profits as a percentage of costs incurred, so there is no incentive to be thrifty; in fact, it is the opposite, the more money that the corporate contractor spends on construction, the higher their corporate profits. Add to this the fact that Bush just signed an executive order that suspended the traditional requirement that federal contractors must pay labor the prevailing wages, instead the federal contractors can now pay workers as little as minimum wage. So the folks who are the poorest, get kicked again by Bush. He kicks ‘em again when they’re down.
New Orleans should be rebuilt on a cooperative local basis. Habitat for Humanity should be the model used for the reconstruction of the many flood-damaged homes in New Orleans. As many physically-able local residents as possible should be employed in the reconstruction of their neighborhoods.
Yours truly,
James K. Sayre
11 September 2005
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:31 pmWhat’s a good “progressive” to do?
Enlist you in the neocon army, where you’ll have advancement opportunity for promotion to Insurgent (E-5).
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:41 pmIf you look at the quote by Robie, it is not at all very clear.
I wonder who is creating an illusion that simply doesn’t have any basic fact? Or basis in fact.
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:55 pmSomeone make a citizens arrest please
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:55 pmIn a party filled with liars and criminals, Lott is in a class by himself (low). Lott and the insurance companies deserve each other.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:08 pmOh, this is rich! Lott may have been a senator
when he did this, but he was also a lawyer,
and what he did (if this account is correct)
is conspiring to commit perjury, witness
tampering, obstruction of justice, or some
combination (or variation) thereof.
By so doing, he has committed a violation of
his ethical obligations as a lawyer, and
exposed himself to discipline by the appropriate
disciplinary body of the MS Supreme Court (which
could include disbarment).
When the facts of Lott’s “over-reaching” are
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 pmfully developed, it can only be hoped someone
will file a complaint against him with that
disciplinary body so he gets the come-uppance
he seemingly so richly deserves.
Oh, this is rich! Lott may have been a senator
when he did this, but he was also a lawyer…
Are you sure about that? I thought that Lott was an exterminator before he went to Congress.
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:50 pmYour thinking of Delay.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:11 pmtony and lido
You’re
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:12 pm“Will probe […] Lott”…??????
Ewwww… why do I suspect Trent might enjoy that?
On the other hand, mebbe Lott can open up the first chapter of “The Hair Club For Men” behind bars.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:17 pmRepublican, initiated contact with people
That’s the problem. We should pass a law prohibiting Republicans from having contact with people.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:17 pmTP,
This is interesting…
http://www.politicalbase.com/ profile/ Mark%20Nickolas/ blog/ &blogId=2967
This above story is about Andrew McCain (son of John McCorp, RePugniScum PrezIsADunce candidate) and needs some attention here!
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:19 pmI just hope this doesn’t all degenerate into a bunch of hearings in which the main question is, “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Republican Party?” That never makes America look good.
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:21 pmTP,
This story:
http://hosted.ap.org/ dynamic/ stories/ G/ GUANTANAMO_BIN_LADENS_DRIVER?SITE=MALOW&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Would be of interest to TP readers also. It seems the GW Botch Guantanamo Empire is crumbling with the testimony of terrorist.
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:31 pmWitness Tampering. What a disciple of the truth.
And let me ask, what else have he and the Alaska guy done that hasn’t made it to the radar ?
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:10 pm23. Bilbo - I was wondering myself if Lott were a servant of the court. But I think you may be thinking about Bugman Delay.
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:11 pmYes, Tom DeLay was the former exterminator who ran for Congress because he didn’t like the fact that DDT was banned.
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:28 pmhttp://allergykids.files.wordpress.com/ 2008/ 05/ ddt-household-pests-usda-mar47c2.jpg
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 pmTrent Lott drives a cute little Mini around DC these days. He’s also got a CRV.
So very cute, Trent.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:07 pmMapleStreet Says:
Witness Tampering. What a disciple of the truth.
And let me ask, what else have he and the Alaska guy done that hasn’t made it to the radar ?
Oh Gawd! I don’t even want to know!
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:38 pmLott has been well schooled from the G.W.Bush University of bullshit and lies.
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 amshoeless, thanks for the link to the old-style DDT poster.
The shame is that DDT, like a lot of substances are wonderful except for 1 or 2 side effects.
DDT was wonderfully effective. It was so non-toxic to humans that you would put the powder and water in a bucket and swish it around with your hands. Unfortuntely, its over-use led to bugs becoming resistant. It is slow to break down in the environment. Because it likes to hang out in fat and the body doesn’t get rid of it, the higher you go up the food chain, the higher its concentration in fat. It led to eggs of raptors becoming easy to break and almost led some raptors to extinction.
A clearer example I like to use is asbestos. Wonderful insulator. Wonderful friction properties (nothing that is as good as asbestos in brake drums). Fairly easy to obtain.
Sure it leads to lung disease and a particularly deadly form of lung cancer. So one bad side effect.
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm