Billion Dollar Set Backs for Jim Hood

Last week was a bad one for Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood. First, Hood lost before a three judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals over a billion dollar lawsuit accusing Memphis of stealing Mississippi's water.

Apparently Hood is looking to take this to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Either way, Mississippi will get its day in court and Memphis will have to answer and account for its theft of Mississippi's water," Don Barrett, lead counsel for the state, said in a text message Friday afternoon.

Mississippi Atty. Gen. Jim Hood, who filed the suit, said the ruling addresses only the proper court for the case, not its merits.

"We look forward to stopping the flow of our pure water to the Memphis pumps and recouping restitution for the loss of Mississippi resources," he said in a statement.

Oh yeah, lead attorney Don Barrett is a long time trial lawyer handling asbestos, tobacco, firestone tires, ford gas caps, vioxx - but very notably head of the Katrina Litigation Group (along with the Scruggs Firm and others). I tell you what, a contingency fee on a billion dollars is a nice deal if you can get it. It must be nice to be like Hood's family.

This case is also interesting because Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley has said he wants to get involved in it, too.

Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley said he'll push for the PSC to get involved in water rights litigation between Mississippi and Memphis.

Presley told the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors Tuesday the regulatory agency needs to represent water customers in a lawsuit alleging that Memphis is taking Mississippi's water.

"I think the PSC has to have a role in that case," Presley said. "It's on the minds of everybody in DeSoto County to make sure we've got that water supply here."

Presley said the previous PSC didn't act on the water rights lawsuit in time to be a party to it. He said the case is scheduled to be heard in U.S. District Court in Oxford in February.

Whatever the outcome, he anticipates the case will be appealed, and the PSC will get an opportunity to file a friend of the court brief.

The second big lost came to Hood's challenge of Mississippi Power's $2 billion Kemper Coal Plant, unanamously rejected by the three members of the Mississippi Public Service Commission. Hood, the Sierra Club, and two independent power producers (Entegra Power Group and Magnolia Energy) all had filed challenges to stop this new facility and the PSC rejected them all. It was a good win for Mississippi Power.

The Clarion Ledger and the Neshoba Democrat both editorialized this as a victory for more energy and more jobs.