From the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog…this is going to burn up the web in the coming weeks and months, and it may burn deeper into Mississippi than just this crew.

This just in: High-profile plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs was indicted today in federal court on charges of trying to bribe a state-court judge. The judge was hearing a dispute over legal fees between Scruggs and another lawyer stemming from their role in Hurricane Katrina litigation.Henry Lackey, a Mississippi state-court judge in Calhoun City, Miss., reported the $40,000 bribery overture to federal authorities and agreed to assist in the investigation in an undercover capacity, according to the indictment. Click here for a copy of it.
Four others were also indicted. They include Scruggs’s son Zachary Scruggs and Sidney Backstrom, both lawyers at the Scruggs Law Firm, and Timothy Balducci, a lawyer in New Albany, Miss. Also indicted was Steven Patterson, an employee at Mr. Balducci’s firm. The men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Oxford, Miss.

And then…

The indictment alleges that Mr. Balducci paid Judge Lackey $40,000 to issue a ruling favorable to Mr. Scruggs and his law firm. Mr. Scruggs allegedly reimbursed Mr. Balducci the $40,000 to use for the bribe, and created false documentation to mask the payment as compensation for work on another case.

Read the entire post from the Wall Street Journal last evening here.