JACKSON, Miss. (AP) An insurance company's attorney suggested during a sworn deposition that former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott urged witnesses to give false information in a Hurricane Katrina lawsuit, according to court records.
The implication was made last week during a deposition with Lott's nephew, Zach Scruggs, who represented the former Mississippi Republican senator after his Pascagoula home was destroyed by the 2005 storm. Zach Scruggs is the son and law partner of disgraced former attorney Richard ''Dickie'' Scruggs, Lott's brother-in-law.
''Has it been your custom and habit in prosecuting litigation to have Senator Lott contact and encourage witnesses to give false information?'' State Farm Fire & Casualty Cos. attorney Jim Robie asked, according to a transcript of the deposition.
''I invoke my Fifth Amendment rights in response to that question,'' Zach Scruggs responded.
Bret Boyles, with Lott's lobbying firm, the Breaux-Lott Leadership Group, said Wednesday the former senator was unavailable for comment.
State Farm accused Richard Scruggs during a separate deposition last week of orchestrating an elaborate ploy after Hurricane Katrina to make it appear that the company was covering up fraud in its handling of homeowners' claims.
Both Richard and Zach Scruggs, who report to federal prison next month on charges stemming from an unrelated bribery case, invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on every question.
Richard Scruggs' attorneys had wanted to keep the depositions secret. They said public knowledge that he refused to answer the questions could undermine ''the presumption of innocence'' if he faceod to subpoena the documents as part of a criminal investigation.
''General Hood subpoenaed the document, State Farm couldn't produce it, and you were able to report to the press that they were shredding or deep sixing or destroying evidence that you knew they didn't have; isn't that a fact?'' State Farm attorney Jim Robie asked during the deposition.
''I respectfully decline to answer based on my Fifth Amendment privilege,'' Scruggs replied.
State Farm has accused Hood of using the threat of criminal charges to pressure the Bloomington, Ill.-based insurer to settle civil claims with attorneys like Scruggs, who donated heavily to Hood's campaigns. Hood did not immediately respond to a message Wednesday. He has denied the allegations in the past.
Scruggs negotiated a multimillion dollar settlement with State Farm, but that eventually led to his downfall when he and other lawyers began fighting over the money. Scruggs was indicted in November along with his son and several associates and accused of conspiring to bribe the judge $50,000 for a favorable ruling in the bitter legal battle over how to split the money. Scruggs pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years. Zach Scruggs got 14 months for knowing about the crime and not reporting it.
Capt. Philip J. Dykeman, 38, of Brockport, New York, and Cpl. Marcus W. Preudhomme, 23, of North Miami Beach, Florida, were also among the 25 people slain.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two U.S. soldiers were charged Saturday with the murder of an Iraqi detainee.
The coalition command in Iraq charged Staff Sgt. Hal M. Warner and 1st Lt. Michael C. Behenna with premeditated murder, assault, making a false official statement and obstruction of justice, according to a statement Saturday from the Multi-National Division.
The charges stemmed from a criminal investigation into the death of Ali Mansur Mohamed, a detainee initially believed to have been released by coalition forces in May, the statement said, without elaborating on the case.
Officials believe Mohamed was killed on or around May 16.
Behenna's charge sheet says that a few days later, he lied when he told another soldier that he dropped off Mohamed and another detainee with a branch of the Sons of Iraq, who are U.S.-allied Sunni fighters, said Maj. Margaret Kageleiry, a coalition spokeswoman.
A pretrial investigation for Warner is scheduled to start August 15 at a base near Tikrit. A date has not been set for Behenna's investigation.
No other details were immediately released.
Both soldiers are assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry at Forward Operating Base Summerall, near
Bayji, about 120 miles south of Mosul.
In other developments, two suspected al Qaeda in Iraq members were seized in connection with the June 26 suicide bombing that left three U.S. Marines and several U.S.-backed Sunni sheikhs dead.
The blast occurred at a tribal sheikhs' meeting in Anbar province. The Islamic State of Iraq, a propaganda front for al Qaeda in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the strike, saying it targeted members of the "awakening" -- a grass-roots movement that opposes al Qaeda in Iraq.
The U.S. military said Friday that Iraqi soldiers detained the pair north of Baghdad on July 18. The military believes the two are linked to various al Qaeda in Iraq efforts, including one said to recruit "young boys" for suicide bombing missions.
Lt. Col. Max A. Galeai, 42, of Pago Pago, American Samoa, died in the blast. Galeai was a battalion commander who led more than 1,000 troops. He was one of the highest-ranking American officers to die in the war-torn country this year.
Capt. Philip J. Dykeman, 38, of Brockport, New York, and Cpl. Marcus W. Preudhomme, 23, of North Miami Beach, Florida, were also among the 25 people slain.
By Martin Crutsinger
Consumer spending, after adjusting for inflation, fell in June as shoppers were hit with the biggest increase in prices in nearly three decades.
The Commerce Department reported Monday that consumer spending dipped by 0.2 percent in June, after removing the effects of higher prices, the poorest showing since a similar drop in February. The higher prices reflected a big surge in gasoline costs and helped to drive an inflation gauge tied to consumer spending up by 0.8 percent in June, the biggest increase since a 1 percent rise in February 1981.
The big rise in inflation ate up a part of the billions of dollars in stimulus payments delivered during the month. Personal incomes rose by a tiny 0.1 percent in June following a giant 1.8 percent increase in May.
Wall Street headed toward a slightly lower opening Monday after the disappointing report on consumer spending. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 13, or 0.11 percent, to 11,293.
The performance of incomes were skewed by how the department accounts for the billions of dollars in stimulus payments that have been made over the past three months. Those payments totaled $1.9 billion in April, when the program was just getting started, then $48.1 billion in May and $27.9 billion in June.
Those payouts made incomes and after-tax incomes soar in May compared to April but weaken in June since the level of June payments was lower than they had been in May.
Consumer spending before removing inflation rose by 0.6 percent in June after a big 0.8 percent increase in May.
Much of that spending went to pay higher prices for gasoline and other items, however. Removing inflation, spending edged up by a more modest 0.3 percent in May and fell by 0.2 percent in June.
The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew at a 1.9 percent rate in the April-June quarter, more than double the 0.9 percent increase in the January-March quarter.
Economists believe the $168 billion stimulus program will continue to lift the economy in the current quarter. They predict there will be a significant slowdown in the final three months of this year and early next year, though.
Some analysts believe GDP will shrink in those two quarters, giving the country back-to-back GDP declines, the traditional definition of a recession.
The spending and incomes report showed that prices shot up by 0.8 percent. Excluding food and energy, the increase was 0.3 percent, up from a 0.2 percent rise in May and the biggest one-month gain since a similar 0.3 percent rise last September.
After-tax incomes fell by 1.9 percent in June following a huge 5.7 percent surge in May, both months heavily influenced by how the government accounted for the stimulus payments. Excluding those payments, after-tax incomes would have rise by 0.3 percent in June after a 0.4 percent rise in May.
The savings rate, as a percent of after-tax incomes, dropped to 2.5 percent in June after having shot up to 4.9 percent in May.
No comments:
Post a Comment