Latest Mississippi Headlines
All the headlines from our Mississippi Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Miss. Katrina Lawyer’s Contempt Case Reassigned to Florida Judge
Dec 14 2007 // The criminal contempt case of Mississippi trial lawyer Richard Scruggs was reassigned to a Florida judge Wednesday because 16 federal judges in north Alabama recused themselves from the case. C. Roger Vinson, Northern...
Miss. AG: Bribery Charges Won’t Affect State’s Katrina Cases
Dec 12 2007 // Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says the bribery charges against the prominent lawyer he used as a “confidential informant” in a Hurricane Katrina investigation won’t affect the state’s...
Miss. Attorney Pleads Guilty, Cooperating in Scruggs Katrina Case
Dec 7 2007 // Mississippi Lawyer Timothy Balducci pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe a judge and is assisting federal prosecutors in a case involving one of the nation’s wealthiest trial lawyers. Balducci is allegedly the...
Appeals Court to Review Insurance Claim Verdict in Miss. Katrina Suit
Dec 6 2007 // State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. is asking a federal appeals court to throw out a landmark $1 million punitive damage award to a Mississippi couple who sued the insurer for refusing to cover Hurricane Katrina damage to...
16 Judges Step Aside From Scruggs Contempt Case
Dec 2 2007 // Every eligible federal judge in north Alabama has stepped aside from presiding in the criminal contempt case of Mississippi trial lawyer Richard Scruggs, who is accused of disobeying an order by failing to turn over...
U.S. Grand Jury Indicts “Dickie” Scruggs in Suspected Bribery Scheme
Nov 30 2007 // An attorney who helped negotiate a multibillion-dollar settlement against tobacco companies in the 1990s and has sued insurers over unpaid Hurricane Katrina claims was indicted in a suspected scheme to bribe a Mississippi...
FBI Targets Miss. Lawyer Known for Handling Katrina Insurance Claims
Nov 29 2007 // FBI agents who searched the law offices of Mississippi attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs on Tuesday left with copies of the office’s computer hard drives, a lawyer for the firm said Wednesday. Joey...
Federal Panel Asks Miss. Court to Clarify Medical Malpractice Limits
Nov 19 2007 // A federal appeals panel is asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to clarify when the clock starts ticking on the filing of certain medical malpractice claims. Specifically, a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...
16 Alabama Federal Judges Step Aside from Scruggs Contempt Case
Nov 19 2007 // Every eligible federal judge in north Alabama has stepped aside from presiding in the criminal contempt case of Mississippi trial lawyer Richard Scruggs, who is accused of disobeying an order by failing to turn over...
Mississippi Asks Companies to Re-bid on Katrina Cottages Program
Nov 19 2007 // The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has asked companies to re-submit bids to oversee the Hurricane Katrina cottages pilot program. MEMA said it decided not to extend its $8.9 million contract with Florida-based...
Republican Chaney Elected Miss. Commissioner
Nov 18 2007 // Newly elected Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says he will work to reduce insurance rates but realizes that it can only be accomplished by employing the right combination of factors. “Competition and...
Miss. AG Hood Denies he Threatened to Indict State Farm CEO
Nov 18 2007 // Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood threatened to indict the chairman of State Farm Insurance Companies if the insurer didn’t settle lawsuits over thousands of Hurricane Katrina claims, according to the testimony...
Miss. Development Authority Gets Money for pre-Katrina Homeowners
Nov 15 2007 // The state of Mississippi has cleared the way for at least 186 homeowners to receive partial grants to help rebuild even though they were previously denied federal aid. The Mississippi Development Authority announced the...
N.C. Engineering Firm to be Dropped from Miss. Katrina Insurance Suits
Nov 15 2007 // North Carolina-based Forensic Analysis and Engineering Corp., has reached a settlement with lawyers who have filed hundreds of lawsuits against State Farm Insurance Cos. on behalf of policyholders whose claims were denied...
State Farm: Restraining Order Continued Against Miss. AG
Nov 9 2007 // A federal judge has extended a restraining order that prevents Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood from continuing a criminal investigation into State Farm Insurance Cos.’ handling of Hurricane Katrina claims, a...
Chaney: New Miss. Insurance Commissioner; A.G. Only Dem to Win
Nov 8 2007 // Republican Mike Chaney of Vicksburg defeated Democrat Gary Anderson in the insurance commissioner’s race. Anderson’s campaign lost momentum after his Democratic primary win over longtime Insurance Commissioner...
Barbour Wins Second Term as Mississippi Governor
Nov 8 2007 // Mssissippi’s Republican governor, Haley Barbour, won a second term Tuesday in a state still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, a storm that washed away some political futures. The Democratic nominee for governor,...
Contractor Arrested on Katrina Fraud Charge in Miss.
Nov 8 2007 // A Massachusetts contractor has been arrested on a felony fraud charge related to Hurricane Katrina recovery on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Daryle Arthur Jager, 47, of Somerville, Mass., is accused of taking $7,000 from a...
Unofficial Results Show Chaney as Miss. Insurance Commisssioner
Nov 7 2007 // While Mississippi precincts offficially have 10 days to report election results, unofficial counts show Republican Mike Chaney at approximately 57 percent over Democrat Gary Anderson’s 43 percent in the contest for...
U.S. Circuit Court Sides with State Farm in Miss. Katrina Case
Nov 7 2007 // A U.S. court of appeals ruling dashed the hopes of potentially hundreds of post-Hurricane Katrina claimants Tuesday when it ruled a major insurer’s policy language unambiguous. The case is based on State Farm Fire...
