Jackson attorney, John Jones says he knows Dickie Scruggs well. Jones has represented Scruggs in court before, and Jones' firm joined the Scruggs Katrina Group after the hurricane to help litigate cases against State Farm.

Soon after over 600 of those case were settled in late 2006, he said he saw a different side of Scruggs.

"When the money hit the table, everybody's sense of what the cause really was changed," said Jones.

The four other firms in the group offered Jones and his firm only three percent of the $26.5 million in attorneys' fees from the settlement. Jones said he asked the group to hire an arbitrator to split the money, the group refused, kicking Jones and his firm out of the group.

"The three principals were Scruggs, Don Barrett from Lexington and David Nutt, had pretty much already decided that they were going to take 90 percent plus of the money," said Jones.

It was Scruggs, Barrett, and Nutt of Ridgeland who were the three principal lawyers in the $246 billion tobacco settlement case.

Jones then filed his civil suit in March 2007 to hopefully get the money he was owed for the work on the Katrina cases. It was that suit Scruggs, his son Zachary, Sidney Backstrom, Timothy Balducci, and Steve Patterson attempted to alter through an attempted bribe of Judge Henry Lackey. Jones' partner Steve Funderburg worked with Balducci on the Katrina cases.

"Knowing Tim Balducci as I do, I am utterly flabbergasted that he would ever be a part of something like that or believe he could ever get away with something like that," said Funderburg.

Jones and Funderburg say they believe all those involved should be barred from practicing law in Mississippi. But more, they feel this indictment will have far reaching affects.

The U.S. attorney and FBI say the investigation into the judicial bribe is ongoing. But this isn't the only legal problem for Scruggs and his law firm.
He also faces prosecution in Alabama relating to the State Farm settlement.