Scrushy Civil Case Far Cry From Criminal Trial

In the Scrushy case, plaintiff's lawyer John W. Haley gave a businesslike, restrained opening statement in which he dismissed Scrushy's claim that he was unaware the company had been overstating revenues and assets until after the bogus accounting was uncovered by the FBI.

"We say it was Scrushy's job to know," Haley said last week.

An equally buttoned-down attorney for Scrushy, Jack McNamee, argued that it defied common sense for Scrushy to have had any role or knowledge of the fraud since there are no documents linking him to it.

"If he was involved in the fraud, he never let it slip. Not once," McNamee said.

As McNamee spoke, Scrushy attorney Jim Parkman sat silently at a table beside him. Parkman had a starring role in the federal criminal trial in 2005, pulling out a cartoon drawing of a rat during closing arguments to depict a former HealthSouth finance chief, Bill Owens.

Shareholders finished presenting their case last week, yielding to the defense.

The civil trial will likely get more interesting this week. Temporarily free from federal prison and jailed in a county lockup near Birmingham, Scrushy will take the stand to testify in his own defense.