Press
Wyatt Emmerich in the Northside Sun about Judge Henry Lackey and Kings of Tort
I wrote dozens of editorials, appeared on “60 Minutes,” and was sued for billions by big-time plaintiffs attorneys trying to intimidate me. It was not an easy time. In the end, the Mississippi Legislature passed the fairest tort reform laws in the nation.
As I talked with Mississippi Judge Henry Lackey at the Kings of Tort book signing, I realized a truism about our great country. In the end, it comes down to good people doing the right thing in tough situations. Judge Lackey is one of those people.
I asked Judge Lackey if there was any doubt about what to do. He answered without hesitation. No doubt whatsoever. The minute he realized what was happening, he knew what he had to do.
At first, Lackey didn’t realize he was being bribed. He kept wondering about strange turns of phrases coming from Tim Balducci, the young attorney who was instructed by Dickie Scruggs to bribe the judge.
Then one day, he made the realization. He was being solicited for a bribe. As the solicitations became more direct, there was no more doubt.
Kings of Tort Book Trailer
Greater Jackson Business interview with Alan Lange
GJB: Is there a particular section or part of the book that you are most proud of or carries the strongest message?
Lange: Believe it or not, I think the reference section of the book carries the strongest message. There are scores of links to information that has long been in the public domain. Though there is a lot of value in the narrative itself, the collection of data carries the strongest message of all. And the message has national implications as a cautionary tale so that people in law and politics nationwide can recognize the warning signs.
Greater Jackson Business Review - “Kings Of Tort” paints sobering picture, presents riveting rea
The authors, utilizing meticulous research and chronological dilligence, document the events which led to the ultimate undoing of Scruggs and his co-horts. Far from being a monotonous recitation, however, “King of Torts” reads almost like a novel, keeping the reader in suspense in spite of the fact that most are probably very aware of the outcome. Easily read in one sitting, “Kings Of Tort” will elicit anger regardless of your political allegiance. The book’s goal (and it is reached successfully) is to present this tragic situation in an objective light sans political partisanship. All readers will learn a lot from this book; hopefully, it’s popularity will prevent any such travesties from taking place in the future by awakening readers to the depths some men will go to for the promise of fame and fortune in the name of the “public good.”
For their first book, “Kings Of Tort” must be judged a triumph for Lange and Dawson and its rise on the bestseller lists confirms that assesment. Locally, the book has flown off the shelves and Greater Jackson Business predicts national coverage for the book, as well. Surely this book is the best of the season thus far and is mandatory reading—get your copy today.
Former MS GOP Chairman Jim Herring reviews Kings of Tort
When I first heard that “Kings of Tort” was to be published, my initial thought was that the book would simply be bringing up old, painful news that most Mississippians would like to leave in the past, particularly since it dealt with public officials and public figures (and their families) that had been friends and colleagues of many of us. However, after reading the first gripping pages which recounted the actual FBI-wired conversations between attorney Tim Balducci and Dickie Scruggs; and the conversations between Balducci and Dickie’s two young associates (Zach Scruggs and Sidney Backstrom); as well as the account of how the attempted bribery of Judge Henry Lackey actually took place, I knew that “Kings of Tort” was an important work . . . I strongly recommend “Kings of Tort” as a “must read” for all Americans who are interested in maintaining the rule of law in our great country and do not subscribe to the theory that “the ends justify the means” when attempting to bring about social change or accomplish some otherwise noble goal.
Alan Lange recognized as “Restore Integrity Award” winner
Alan Lange was recognized as a private sector recipient of POPULAR, Inc.‘s 2010 Restore Integrity Award. This bi-annual award recognizes the “sometimes silent heroes who break down proverbial walls of silence and light the way for others, and who serve to inspire, encourage, and help others join to restore integrity.”
Judge Henry L. Lackey was also recognized “for reporting the bribery overture to federal authorities that derailed a seemingly invincible, corrupt segment of the Mississippi legal system led by various “Kings of Torts,” certain powerful lawyers who sullied the noble mission of the plaintiffs’ bar for personal gain.”
Syndicated columnist Sid Salter reviews Kings of Tort
... authors Alan Lange and Tom Dawson give readers a chance to see the tape transcripts and documents that led to Scrugg’s downfall and judge for themselves how well the feds made their case.
Dawson, now retired, was the lead federal prosecutor in the Scruggs case. Lange owns the yallpolitics.com blog that served as Ground Zero for new about the Scruggs probe.
Kings of Tort is a must-read for anyone building a serious personal library on Mississippi politics. It is also a cautionary tale about greed, hubris and how money greases the wheels of state politics.”
Greenwood Commonwealth - Lawyers’ downfall chronicled in book
Alan Lange and Tom Dawson put a lot of work into their new book about the downfall of prominent attorneys Richard “Dickie” Scruggs and Paul Minor, and they encourage readers to draw their own conclusions.
“Here’s what happened. This is what we think about it. Now you make up your own mind,” Lange said Friday at a book signing at Turnrow Book Co. for “Kings of Tort: The True Story of Dickie Scruggs, Paul Minor and Two Decades of Political and Legal Manipulation in Mississippi.”
The Mississippi Press on Gulf Coast book signings
“Kings of Tort” is a nonfiction collaboration between Tom Dawson and Alan Lange, focusing on the fall of former Pascagoula attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs and his partner in tobacco litigation, Paul Minor.
Scruggs and Minor made millions in defense of clients targeting “big tobacco” companies and others, and both are currently serving prison terms for improperly influencing judges.
Their rise and eventual fall was watched closely by Mississippians and people throughout the nation alike, and “Kings of Tort” serves as the crossroads of pertinent information regarding their cases . . .
Tom Dawson and Bob Norman recieve Director’s Award for Scruggs prosecution
The Department of Justice held its 26th annual Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) Director’s Awards Ceremony today, during which 146 award recipients from more than 30 districts were recognized for their dedication to carrying out the Department of Justice’s mission. Among the award recipients, from the Northern District of Mississippi, were Assistant United States Attorney Robert H. Norman and retired First Assistant United States Attorney Thomas W. Dawson who were recognized for their superior performance. Recipients included Assistant United States Attorneys, law enforcement agents, litigation teams and others who have made outstanding contributions in federal, state and local law enforcement.
“These award recipients have been honored for their service and commitment to our country, as well as to their local communities,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Each of these dedicated servants has carried out the important mission of the Department of Justice. Their accomplishments have advanced the interests of justice on behalf of the American people.”
NORTHSIDE SUN - ‘Kings of Tort’ chronicles a sordid chapter
Lange and Dawson have come together to produce an authoritative account of the takedown of the King of Torts, appropriately titled Kings of Tort.
Mississippi Business Journal reviews Kings of Tort
Recounting the Scruggs scandal
With its more than 30 pages of footnotes, including an impressive collage of online data from trial transcripts, law firm web sites, local and national TV and print coverage, public lectures, Wikipedia and even federal wiretaps, “Kings” bears a glaring feel of aggregation, much like Lange’s popular blog, which is also numerously cited.
Read more . . . (Subscription Required)
Meridian Star - Definitive book of Dickie Scruggs out soon
If you thought back road deals were a thing of the long ago past then “Kings of Tort” will show you how only recently there was a group of attorneys and judges who were spinning vast webs of under-the-table agreements for their financial gains.
John Evans of Lemuria Books reviews Kings of Tort
Kings starts in the late 80s and traces Scruggs’ rise and fall path, along the way culprits come and go. Lange and Dawson weave together this story in a compelling fashion to give the reader insight and a clear time line.
Kings reads with all the characteristics of a novel, yet it is not. It seems truthful without too much author grandstanding and personal agenda. Leanly written, without too much flowery embellishment, reading takes on the fast pace of a thriller.
For me, Kings is a cross of Jack Nelson’s fine Terror in the Night and an early Grisham legal thriller.
This is a must-read for inquiring Mississippians.
Review from Madison County Journal
Captivated, I read it in two sittings.
. . .
Left-wing conspiracies suggest Minor is a political prisoner, prosecuted through a Karl Rove conspiracy in the Bush Justice Department. But this book proves a convincing case for Minor’s guilt (already determined by jury of his peers) and shares the evidence of his attempts to cover-up his misdeeds.
Legal Newsline - Scruggs book coming Dec. 2
“We were both convinced that there would likely not be a narrative that would put the scandal in the correct historical context,” said Lange, who also runs a legal staffing company.
“Small businesspeople like myself have long suspected that Scruggs was, in fact, telling the truth when he bragged about ‘magic jurisdictions’ that fundamentally lacked fairness for civil defendants.
“I thought it was critical to get the facts out there in context so that everyone could recognize the signs of this corruption and be on guard so it will never happen again.”
Lange and Dawson compiled more than 100 sources like news reports and court documents, and used Dawson’s experience on the case to provide insight into the behind-the-scenes elements of the investigation.
Sun Herald’s Geoff Pender reviews Kings of Tort
“...the book is concise, easy to read and explains complex legal and political maneuvers in a way that laypeople can easily follow.
The book, and an accompanying Web site that provides access to all the legal and media sources used, also marks perhaps the best compendium of fact to date on the sordid tale.”
Madison County Journal - Grisham’s newest thriller
The FBI raids the office of a billionaire trial lawyer who brought down Big Tobacco after flipping a cohort in a judicial bribery scheme. His own defense lawyer turns against him when a former district attorney reveals another scheme involving yet another judge. A judge and several attorneys go to prison. That billionaire had previously been a witness in another government investigation that resulted in the jailing of a trial lawyer known as “the judge maker” and two state court judges.
After reading that actual news in Mississippi over the past few years, it is a relief to enjoy the fiction of legal thriller novelist John Grisham. The international best seller and former Mississippi legislator recently released his first collection of short stories, “Ford County,” where he takes us back to the imaginary county in northeast Mississippi that was the setting for “A Time to Kill” for seven tales of Mississippi antics. (In the movie, the setting was Madison County and Canton.)
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Meanwhile, if you’d rather read about the fall of the billionaire trial lawyer and the judge maker, that true story comes out next month with the release of “Kings of Tort: The true story of Dickie Scruggs, Paul Minor, and two decades of political and legal manipulation in Mississippi” by Y’all Politics blogger Alan Lange and former assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Dawson.
The launch party sponsored by Jackson’s Lemuria Books will be held at the Pinnacle Building in downtown Jackson on Dec. 2, with subsequent signings in Oxford, Hattiesburg, Gulfport, Meridian, Greenwood, and Pass Christian.
LAWANDMORE’s Jane Genova - A book review on Kings of Tort
The value this overview of Scruggs and his era adds to the history of litigation in America is that it can be used by current reformers to hedge their arrogance and earnestness with respect for their own possible myopia. There’s a paradigm shift in progress in the business and profession of law, the limits of populism, and how to define success. Every law student, lawyer, policy maker, and parent should have a copy of “Kings of Tort.”
Oxford Enterprise talks about Kings of Tort as first book on scandal to hit bookstores
Tom Dawson, one of three federal prosecutors who sat on the other side of the bar in the same Oxford courtroom, teamed up this past June with Alan Lange, a conservative Mississippi legal blogger, to write “Kings of Tort: The True Story of Dickie Scruggs, Paul Minor, and Two Decades of Political and Legal Manipulation in Mississippi,” due out Dec. 2 by Pediment Publishing. Pediment specializes in commemorative publications for newspapers.
Dawson, who has lived and worked in Oxford since 1975, retired from his assistant U.S. attorney position for the Northern District of Mississippi in January. He and Lange hooked up this summer to write the book, the first for both men, and turned in the final copy to Pediment a few weeks ago.
The process moved from start to finish pretty quickly, Dawson said. “You can’t discount the fact that I lived it. It was not something being written by a third party, so it was fresh on my mind.”
Dawson combined his inside perspective with Lange’s compilation of media reports to create a cohesive narrative of the investigation and prosecution.
The timing of the two releases created a bit of a stir in Oxford.
Jerry Mitchell - Upcoming books take look at Scruggs bribery scandal
The federal investigation into the biggest judicial bribery scandal in Mississippi history is continuing, and an insider’s take on that scandal soon will hit the shelves.
“Kings of Tort: The True Story of Dickie Scruggs, Paul Minor, and Two Decades of Political and Legal Manipulation in Mississippi” by Alan Lange and Tom Dawson is slated for release next month by Pediment Publishing.
Dawson, who retired in January as first assistant U.S. attorney in Oxford, was involved in the undercover federal operation that led to the arrest and guilty pleas of Scruggs and others on corruption charges. Lange is a conservative political commentator for yallpolitics.com.
Patsy Brumfield - NE MS Daily Journal Review
“. . .it is a handy look at Scruggs’ life, his most public litigations and his eventual downfall.”
Kings of Tort to be released nationwide on December 2nd
The amazing story behind tort magnate Dickie Scruggs’s judicial bribery scandal is presented by Pediment Publishing. Kings of Tort is the authoritative work on documenting this nationally known story and the relatively unknown 25 year history behind it. The book will be made available in retail outlets throughout the country on December 2nd. More Information including advance ordering of the book is available at http://www.kingsoftort.com. Read more ....
LAW AND MORE - In Santa’s Bag - “Kings of Tort” by Alan Lange and Tom Dawson
Scruggs is a compelling character. In covering how the feds were moving in on him, I asked lawyers: How could this have happened? How does a cunning mind and streetfighter cross the line from doing well by doing good to flamboyantly breaking the law? Plaintiff attorney Bill Marler of Marler Clark Law Firm answered in one word: Greed. Maybe that’s it. Maybe greed was the force which pulled Scruggs across that line that usually separates clever players from jailed ones.
Lange and Dawson have done for legal nonfiction what other great Southern writer John Grisham did for fiction. The South has a way of producing powerful voices [including, of course, Ted Turner.] Lange is a businessman from Jackson, Mississippi and runs the popular political site YallPolitics. Dawson, from Oxford, Mississippi, is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney who retired from his position in early 2009.
Oxford Eagle - Book Ready on Scruggs Legal Saga
By Alyssa Schnugg
A former assistant U.S. Attorney and Jackson blogger have co-authored a book on political and legal manipulation in Mississippi that features the rise and fall of trial attorneys Richard “Dickie” Scruggs and Paul Minor.
Published by Pediment Publishing, the 250-plus page book is due out in the first week of December, said Dave Hollingsworth, director of sales and marketing for Pediment.
The book will be titled, “Kings of Tort: The True Story of Dickie Scruggs, Paul Minor and Two Decades of Political and Legal Manipulation in Mississippi.”
The authors, former assistant U.S. attorney Tom Dawson and Alan Lange, who manages the political blog Y’all Politics, met last year at an Ole Miss football game.
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