Dickie Scruggs
| Richard "Dickie" Scruggs | |
| Birthplace | Brookhaven, Mississippi, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Trial lawyer |
| Known for | Lead counsel in the 1990s state tobacco litigation; leadership of 2nd Chance MS |
| Website | 2ndchancems.org |
Richard "Dickie" Scruggs (born May 17, 1946) is an American trial lawyer known as a lead counsel in the state tobacco litigation of the 1990s, which produced settlements totaling more than $248 billion, and for the judicial bribery case that later sent him to federal prison.[1] After serving six years in prison and being disbarred, he has devoted himself to second-chance education and employment work in his home state of Mississippi.[1][2]
Scruggs leads 2nd Chance MS, a nonprofit that promotes and supports adult education and work-skills training in Mississippi and has helped more than a thousand Mississippi adults earn credentials.[3][2] He was a featured fireside-chat guest at the 2026 White Collar Conference.[2]
Early life and education
Scruggs was born on May 17, 1946, in Brookhaven, Mississippi, and raised in Pascagoula.[1] He attended the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and earned his law degree from the University of Mississippi Law School in 1976 as a classmate of future Mississippi attorney general Mike Moore.[1] Before law school he served as a naval aviator, earning his wings as an A-6 Intruder pilot in 1970 and deploying aboard the aircraft carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Yom Kippur War.[1] He is a brother-in-law of former United States Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.[1]
Career
Asbestos litigation
Scruggs built his practice on asbestos cases beginning in 1984, when he represented a Pascagoula shipyard worker suffering from asbestosis.[1] He went on to take roughly 4,200 direct clients and serve as co-counsel for another 6,000 asbestos claimants, and was retained by Attorney General Moore on contingency in related state work that produced a settlement and $6 million in legal fees for the state, a fee he later reduced by $63,000 amid an ethics inquiry.[1]
Tobacco litigation
In the 1990s Moore hired Scruggs to lead Mississippi's suit against thirteen tobacco companies to recover state-borne health costs, and the multi-state litigation that grew out of those efforts ended in settlements worth more than $248 billion.[1] His firm, Scruggs, Millette, Bozeman and Dent, earned an estimated $900 million in fees from the tobacco settlements, about a third of which went to Scruggs.[1] He was portrayed by actor Colm Feore in the film The Insider, which dramatized the tobacco wars.[1]
Other litigation
Scruggs won a $51 million national class-action verdict against Lehman Brothers over predatory lending in 2003, though his Ritalin class actions and suits against HMOs and non-profit hospital groups were dismissed before trial.[1] After Hurricane Katrina he sued insurers over storm-damage claims, including a suit on behalf of Senator Trent Lott and his wife Tricia against State Farm; most of the Katrina cases ended in favorable settlements.[1]
Bribery conviction and imprisonment
In 2007 Scruggs was indicted in a scheme to bribe Circuit Judge Henry L. Lackey with $40,000 in connection with a legal-fee dispute, and he pleaded guilty in March 2008; he was sentenced to five years in federal prison that June.[1] He pleaded guilty again in February 2009 to mail fraud for attempting to influence another judge, Bobby DeLaughter, drawing a concurrent seven-year sentence that added two years to his term along with a $100,000 fine.[1] Scruggs was disbarred following his convictions.[1] In prison he taught GED courses, through which nearly 60 of his students graduated.[1] He was released to house arrest on March 20, 2014, and completed his sentence that September.[1]
2nd Chance MS
After his release, Scruggs turned to adult education and reentry work, partnering with the Mississippi Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (MIBEST) program.[1] He leads 2nd Chance MS, an Oxford, Mississippi-based nonprofit whose mission is to promote and support adult education and work-skills training across the state.[3][2] The organization reports that it has helped more than a thousand Mississippi adults earn credentials, and it was in his capacity as a second-chance champion that Scruggs appeared in a fireside chat at the 2026 White Collar Conference.[2]
Related biographies
- Amy K. Nelson — Lawyer
- Louis L. Reed — Criminal Justice Reform Advocate
- Adam Bentley Clausen — Criminal Justice Reform Advocate
- Pamela Winn — Criminal Justice Reform Advocate
- Tanya Pierce — Founder of Life Unbolted
- Desmond Meade — Civil Rights & Voting Rights Leader
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 "Dickie Scruggs". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "White Collar Conference 2026". White Collar Support Group. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "2nd Chance MS". 2nd Chance MS. Retrieved 2026-09-29.