Here’s the 2nd part of the 90 minute conversation.
Balducci: What else you got, man?
Backstrom: Tryin’ to get through discoverin’ this McIntosh case. Try to keep my sanity. It’s like I, you know, I hang around with Dick and Zach all the damn time and it’s like we talk about and I’m just like, it’s bad enough to have to deal with it to have to relive it with these fuckers every day. And they just talked about that fucking Hood thing going on today, you know, for a least two hours today about you know, I’m just like guys can’t do anything about that.
[that would be the hearing in State Farm v. Hood]. Backstrom says that if Hood “had somebody that knew what the hell they were doing, they would have called us as witnesses to say here’s what Jim bargained for and he didn’t get it.”
Balducci says that Backstrom had said that Dick was walking the floor over the Lackey deal. Backstrom says that it wasn’t on the front burner because
we told him it didn’t have to be and I oversold that a little bit. I said shit, we’re defendants. We can wait out, we can wait till the cows come home. They bought that for a little while….
When you gonna get that order? We need that order? Well, we really don’t. Our lawyers aren’t billing us anything, ’cause they ain’t doing anything. It just, anyway but you know, they just got it in their heads that they wanted it, you know?
And, so they were like, can you call Tim, and I was like, yeah, I can call Tim. No problem. You know, and then later that day, Dick was like, no we can go about this another way. Don’t call Tim. I’ll go about it another way, a more indirect way. And I was like well what are you plannin’ on doing? And he was like, I’m I’ma handle it, and kinda givin’ me the you don’t wanna know kinda thing. And I was just like — so I don’t know what he did.
He probably called dumb ass Jack Dunbar and said, you know, will you handle this for me or somethin’ like that. ‘Cause he had just talked to Jack the day before.
So I had a feeling yeah, whenever Dick talks to somebody, he automatically thinks of something that they could do on something else….so I have a feeling it was that, but um, speculation.
Balducci: I can put his concerns to rest that it’s all done. And, too, he had paid the money too and he was probably upset, you know, or concerned that you know, it wasn’t getting delivered either.
Backstrom: Mm-hmm.
Balducci: Like it was supposed to.
On pages 73-81, Balducci discusses the order with Dickie Scruggs, and says, because Grady has made a decent argument, “he’s [the judge] gonna do this, but he says he thinks he’s a little more exposed on the facts and the law than he was before and did I think that you would do a lttle something else, you know, ’bout ten or so more?” [76] Balducci asks if Scruggs can cover it. Scruggs says, “Uh, I’ll take care of it. Uh, I need, I need, uh, some suggested, uh, voir dire for you.” Balducci says he’s already doing voir dire for Scruggs, who says, “You just enjoy doing that, don’t you [77]. Balducci says he thought he could do some jury instructions.
Scruggs closes by saying what he owes Balducci on “all the Merkel stuff” on which he knows “who did the fucking work.” That would be Luckey and Wilson.
I don’t fully follow this but presume that pages 49-50 — or any other mention — won’t happify Camp Hood:
Hmmm? Curious to know WTF is going on with that!
dang! thanks nmc
Who’s on first here, never heard that before..Friggin wife …Billing nightmare..You could never,ever make this stuff up.
It gets kind of sad-feeling on the gov’t’s page 54-55-ish, with Backstrom telling Balducci about his new house under construction (not roofed yet), saying he’ll have to come see it later . . .
I don’t suppose the project went on in December.
You know, it is also disturbing that it seems the topic of every conversation… no matter what that conversation is or whom it is with…. it’s about the “deal,” meaning, what they will get out of it. Even when Dickie is showing Balducci those pictures of Coast homes, you don’t get the feeling it’s because he’s hoping these people are made whole.
Bottom of gov’t’s page 57:
Daughter of Joe? Daughter of Jim? Wife of either? Unrelated? (I bet not the latter.)
No idea, but very good point, Lotus… they’ve all been very active in contributing to Joe Biden.
His sister-in-law. Probably another “of counsel” in Balducci’s make believe law firm.
http://www.classlaw.com/Bio/SaraBiden1.html
Here is her bio.
I’m reading along here around gov’t’s page 73, when Dickie and Balducci start talking about Lackey’s order. Really striking how Balducci’s language changes with Dickie and he suddenly starts sounding all edumacated. Using three-syllable words an’ all . . .
lotus 5: That was indeed sad about the new house, and the children trick-or-treating. It reminds you that in spite of their seemingly non-stop scheming and jackassery, these are people who have families that love them and need them. Oh, well.
Yes, Dragoman, the trick-or-treating got me too.
Top of gov’t’s page 77, they’re talking about more money for Lackey (beyond the $50K), when Dickie’s secretary breaks in to announce a call from Gov. Minter of Delaware.
Dickie: I’ll call him back.
Musta given Balducci’s ego a thrill. (But not Gov. Minter’s — DS says “Don’t know who that is.”)
Dickie Scruggs dealings put him in HIGH COTTON just before the Blooms fell off.
Am I reading the part about Dunbar correctly? Sounds like Dickie thought Dunbar would do some dirty work for him???
NMC—do you have the November 13 conversation between Backstrom and Balducci?
Bottom of gov’t’s page 82, they revert to commoner language:
They blather around a bit more, then
Wonder what that’s all about . . .
Scruggs to Balducci in re: “voir dire”
“You just enjoy doing that, don’t you?”
Boy, there’s a comment just dripping with ill-disguised contempt.
Guys–is the Nov. 13th transcript missing here? The one that starts off with Balduccia asking about the Clinton fundraiser… then he starts talking to Backstrom about the LSU/Ole Miss party?
I don’t think so, iratetoday. This is partly based on my reading a lot of these cases. Scruggs flails around A WHOLE LOT, hiring lawyers right and left, swapping around who does what, and also seeming to have a multiple teams running off in different directions. I think Backstrom is saying that he knows Scruggs called Dunbar (who had represented Scruggs for years in the Luckey and Wilson fee cases) and speculating that Scruggs may be calling Dunbar and charging off in an inconsistent direction. That’s how I read it.
Ah, I certainly hope that’s the case. Yikes. I certainly would not want to see my name dropped in one of these transcripts!
The 11/13 transcript is linked at the bottom of this post
That would be the “dumb ass Jack Dunbar” referred to by Mr. Backstrom.
For those who know Jack Dunbar, there may be no better proof of the arrogance necessary to attempt the alleged bribe than to refer him so contemptuously in that way. Not saying it proves the crime — but if that’s how they view him, who once represented Scruggs in the Lucky/Wilson matter, then it speaks volumes about how they view the practice of law.
OK, I have read all the transcripts. Where is it in plain English that Zach knew they were bribing Lackey, as opposed to Tim B. using his frienship with Lackey to get things done in their favor.
it’s part and parcel of these transcripts, Homer Rex. There’s a real quality of pretending to the way these people operate.
“dumb ass”? Don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call Jack Dunbar a dumb ass before.
Tortsfeasor: On page 30, Balducci says this to both Zach and SId: “Balducci: Um, the other piece of this puzzle I hadn’t told you yet is, uh, get it how you want it because I’ve got to, uh, I’ve gotta go back for another delivery of, uh, another bushel of sweet potatoes down there. So because of all this that has come up. So get it right. Get it how you want it ’cause we’re paying for it and get it done right”
from page 17-30, they’ve had a three way conversation about the entry of the order. That’s where Zach is most thoroughly nailed in these 2 transcripts. I’d have to look back to see what else is out there.
follow up on what I said: Backstrom agrees, and Zach doesn’t dissent, and the extra $10K gets set up
The Merkel reference could be a reference to Merkel vs. Scruggs. Joey and Tim represented Scruggs in that case. It could be a reference to the Wilson and/or the Luckey case.
Why all of the tears for Jack Dunbar, you guys? Jack was just defending all the money he awarded Dickie in arbitration. Why? Jack’s service to Delaughter as special master in Eaton overlaps his representation of Scruggs in the Wilson matter. Did Delaughter or Dunbar reveal this relationship to Wilson?
Also does this transcript make anyone see that Hood is not connected to Scruggs as tightly as everyone thought? Or Not? I don’t know what to think.