Settlement reached in fraud suit

State News

September 2, 2010

Anonymous Associated Press Thu Sep 02, 2010, 09:06 AM CDT

OXFORD, Miss. — An Oxford attorney has settled with the final two defendants in a long-running fraud lawsuit that originally included ex-tobacco litigator Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, federal court documents show.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner signed a dismissal order against former Hinds District Attorney Ed Peters and former New Albany attorney Timothy Balducci.

Details of the settlements were not released.

William Roberts Wilson Jr. filed the suit in 2009 against Scruggs and the others. He claimed that the judicial scandal surrounding then-Hinds Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter so tainted his original lawsuit over legal fees from Scruggs’ national asbestos litigation that Wilson wanted damages.

DeLaughter presided over the Wilson’s original lawsuit.

Scruggs and his son, Zach, and Scruggs’ businesses settled with Wilson last year. Another defendant, former state Auditor Steven A. Patterson of New Albany, settled in May.

Former Booneville attorney Joey Langston admitted his part in the DeLaughter scandal and settled with Wilson before the lawsuit was filed.

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