In discussing McIntosh v. State Farm with Attorney Jay Brown for this month’s cover story, I was struck at how the utter disintegration of the case, which was deemed the torch that would burn down the insurers’ temple of greed, came and went with very little pomp and circumstance. After all, this wasn’t a typical settlement. The McIntoshes flat-out admitted that their claim was handled appropriately by State Farm from the start. No jury decision. No summary judgment. No Supreme Court. The plaintiffs essentially said, “never mind.”

Excuse me, but where did all the fire and brimstone go? The proselytizers? One of the most vocal critics of insurers, Former Mississippi Senator Trent Lott opted to move to the private sector last year. He settled into his first month of retirement in January 2008 after serving more than 35 years in government. I remember the surprise of Lott’s decision to leave the Senate. Not only did he hold the second-highest position in the Republican Party as Senate Republican whip, but he also had five years remaining on his term. I don’t pretend to be a political analyst, but one thing I’ve gleaned over the years is that most politicians have a disdain for the campaign trail. So why leave?

There has been much speculation — none of which has anything to do with the reasons Lott himself has stated — but it’s better off left in the hands of more capable pundits. However, one conspiracy apple I couldn’t resist taking a bite out of involved the timing of an indictment against Lott’s brother-in-law by the FBI, an indictment delivered a mere two days following his retirement announcement. You might know the name of his brother-in-law if you heard it, but then again, maybe not. But I’m guessing our readership would recognize it if they saw it: Richard Scruggs.

The indictment turned out to be the same charge that Scruggs was later convicted of several months ago, and for which he is now serving prison time. The association and the timing are notable because of Lott’s public lashing of the industry after Katrina. He was a bully who used his position to influence others, and he ignored conflicts of interest (he was a member of the Senate’s commerce committee, which heard testimony on insurer claim-handling practices). It now seems clear that he was heavily influenced by his brother-in-law’s circumstantial accusations and evidence, which he also failed to scrutinize objectively.

If still in his Senate position, Lott would have probably asked that the public reserve judgment until the facts were exposed. But that same consideration was not something he exhibited while lambasting and personally overseeing efforts to punish the industry in general and State Farm in particular, efforts that ground to a halt once his own personal claim was settled and he headed off to the private sector.

As Brown said in our interview, “At a time when it was politically expedient to do so, former Mississippi Senator Trent Lott, Mississippi Congressman Gene Taylor, and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood publicly eviscerated State Farm in the media and on the floor of Congress.” At least in McIntosh, it appears we at least had the final word.