Major news on the asbestos front: the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, one of the most powerful prosecutorial offices in the country, has convened a grand jury to probe allegations of fraud in the mass prosecution of silica and asbestos claims in Texas and elsewhere. In recent court proceedings in Corpus Christi, doctors admitted that they had never met or interviewed claimants for whom they had provided written diagnoses of silicosis, often after the same claimants had been accorded diagnoses of asbestosis. Federal judge Janis Graham Jack said one doctor’s testimony was raising “great red flags of fraud”. (Jonathan D. Glater, “Civil Suits Over Silica in Texas Become a Criminal Matter in New York”, New York Times, May 18). Ted Frank has been following the developing story in detail at Point of Law: Feb. 2, Feb. 17, Feb. 27, Mar. 2, Mar. 14, Mar. 16, Mar. 21, and other entries on that site’s asbestos page. This site’s product liability page has also extensively covered dubious litigation of this sort (examples: Jan. 21 and Aug. 5, 2004, Sept. 13 and Nov. 12, 2003 and earlier items).

Filed under: asbestos, ethics, silicosis