Mississippi is far outpacing the rest of the country in silica litigation (see Sept. 13): “More than 17,000 plaintiffs in this state have sued U.S. Silica, a leading producer of silica sand, for allegedly causing them to develop an incurable lung disease.” One lawsuit filed at the courthouse in Macon, Miss. “was filed by 4,200 plaintiffs, close to double the 2,461 residents in this Noxubee County town.” Less than one percent of the plaintiffs are actually from Mississippi, the others having been brought there by their lawyers to sue. Critics say law firms are using mass solicitation and screening techniques to recruit thousands of claimants with no actual disability, as was done earlier with asbestos. One silica plaintiff, “62-year-old Noah Myers Bufkin of Lucedale, said he was diagnosed in a mass screening as having silicosis, although he can’t say for sure he has any symptoms. …The same screening company diagnosed him as having asbestosis seven or eight years ago, he said. He estimates he has received about $10,000 from that suit. …. He doesn’t know of any symptoms he’s suffering from silicosis or asbestosis. ‘I’m saving up in case I do have a problem,’ he said. ‘For a poor fella like me, every little bit helps.'” (Jerry Mitchell, “Silica suits latest to hit Miss. courts”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Oct. 19).
Posts Tagged ‘Mississippi’
Election results
Tort reformers did well in Mississippi elections, with GOP challenger Haley Barbour toppling incumbent Gov. Ronnie Musgrove (D) and Republican Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck handily fending off a challenge from trial-lawyer-legislator Barbara Blackmon (Julie Goodman and Patrice Sawyer, “Republican challenger unseats Musgrove”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Nov. 5; Andy Kanengiser, “GOP’s Tuck breezes to victory over Blackmon”,
Nov. 5). The Democrats did hold onto the state’s attorney generalship, however. Meanwhile, doctors campaigning for malpractice reform (see Nov. 4) suffered stinging defeats in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Max Baer beat Republican Joan Melvin for a seat on the state supreme court, and New Jersey, where Democratic followers of Gov. Jim McGreevey solidified their hold on the state legislature, in part by outspending their rivals four to one. (“Democrat Baer defeats Melvin for top Pa. court”, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 5; Tom Turcol, “N.J. Democrats secure control of legislature”, Nov. 5).
UPDATE: “FBI Probes Big Jury Awards in Mississippi”
It’s not clear what the FBI is looking for, but after a couple of $100 million+ verdicts against pharmaceutical companies in southwest Mississippi, there’s been a lot of collateral litigation that sounds like it’s from a John Grisham novel: former jurors filed suit against CBS for their coverage of the case (see Dec. 16-17, 2002), a half-dozen former plaintiffs have sued their lawyer, and three people claiming they were “runners” have alleged in litigation that they haven’t been paid promised referral fees (see May 7). Pharmacies, brought into the products liability cases as defendants to defeat federal diversity jurisdiction, are being subpoenaed regarding forged prescription records. (Matt Volz, AP, Oct. 3).
Mississippi lame duck Supreme Court Justice troubles
Mississippi has an unusual system where not only do its state Supreme Court justices run for election (complete with full-scale television advertising), but the judges elected in November 2002 don’t take their seats until January 2004. Justice Chuck McRae (see Sep. 9, 2002) finished a distant third in 2002. (Robert Lenzner and Matthew Miller, “Buying Justice”, Forbes, Jul. 21). Now his fellow Justices have raised a complaint that he is acting petulantly as a lame duck, delaying cases and threatening violence. The unprecedented public hearing on whether to suspend Justice McRae will be held later this month. (Matt Volz, “Justices allege misconduct by McRae”, AP, Sep. 29; Jerry Mitchell, “Public to get rare glimpse of high court”, Hattiesburg American, Sep. 30; Eric Stringfellow, “McRae’s lame-duck term harmful to high court”, The Clarion-Ledger, Sep. 30). The Mississippi Supreme Court has had other troubles recently, as this site discussed on Aug. 19.
Update: (Jerry Mitchell, “2 justices must testify in McRae case”, The Clarion-Ledger, Oct. 3).
“Fireworks incident leads to lawsuit”
The mother of two Mississippi boys injured in a fireworks accident has sued the company that manufactured the shell. Straightforward enough: if a company holds a fireworks display, one normally expects it not to leave behind undetonated fireworks. The newspaper account, however, hides some critical details in the back of the story:
A report filed by Pascagoula police Sgt. George Tillman stated that he was told that LaBarron’s father, Gregory Powe, told them, “See if it will light.” [Nine-year-old] Kaine Price lit the powder with a lighter.
Tillman’s report said he also spoke to Powe about the incident. “(Powe) advised that he had seen that the boys had poured the stuff on the sea wall. He advised that he said, I wonder if that stuff will light,” according to the report.
Powe told Tillman that he didn’t realize his statement might prompt the boys to light the explosive material.
(Brad Crocker, Pascagoula Mississippi Press, Sep. 26). It’s one thing to hold a fireworks company responsible because unsupervised children injured themselves with their explosives–though one would expect children of a certain age to be well aware that they shouldn’t be playing with lighters. But shouldn’t some societal culpability rest with a parent present who not only failed to intervene to stop children playing with explosives and a lighter, but egged on reckless behavior?
Mississippi recently adopted reforms that limit the damages of a defendant that is less than 30% responsible to 50% of economic damages and the defendant’s share of non-economic damages. But many other states allow a defendant who was only partially responsible to be required to bear the full share of damages if the other tortfeasors are judgment-proof under the principle of “joint and several liability.”
Update: something burning in Mississippi
The series of unfortunate occurrences continues in the Magnolia State: “An early morning fire at former Judge John Whitfield’s law office may have destroyed some documents he was preparing to use in his defense of federal fraud and bribery charges, his lawyer said. Authorities said the fire remains under investigation, but a private fire investigator hired by Whitfield concluded it was arson.” (Beth Musgrave, “Whitfield’s office burns”, Biloxi Sun-Herald, Sept. 16; Jerry Mitchell, “Lawyer says house fire an act of intimidation”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Sept. 16; WLOX, Sept. 15)(via Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy). For background on the Mississippi judicial investigation, see Jul. 27, Aug. 19 and links from there.
Last month, the same newspaper reported that “Mississippi Supreme Court officials were seen shredding documents as federal prosecutors flooded the high court with subpoenas for judges’ tax forms, records of the cases over which they presided and how cases are assigned”; but a spokeswoman for the court denied that any documents were shredded that were responsive to the subpoenas, and Chief Justice Edwin Pittman called the allegations a “deliberate and false attack being waged against the Supreme Court of Mississippi by people with intimate knowledge of the workings of the court.” Pittman also said “there has been no unusual document shredding at the court and that the court’s computer system is able to retrieve any written communication.” (Beth Musgrave, “Witnesses: documents shredded”, Aug. 21; “Chief Justice: ‘Deliberate attack waged against court'”, Aug. 22; Pittman statement; “Allegations need to be investigated” (editorial), Hattiesburg American, Aug. 23). See also Jerry Mitchell, “FBI questions law clerks on rulings in high court probe”, Jackson Clarion Ledger, Aug. 29.
Mississippi ripples
Continuing fallout from the Mississippi scandal: “State Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. and two former judges are under indictment for loans guaranteed or paid off by Gulf Coast trial lawyer Paul Minor, but they are not the only ones to receive such help from Minor.” State Chief Justice Ed Pittman, for example, benefited from a $40,000 loan guarantee. (Jerry Mitchell, “Loan to chief justice cited”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Aug. 17). “Pascagoula lawyer Dickie Scruggs said he guaranteed an $80,000 loan to state Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. in his 2000 runoff,” saying it was necessary to keep business interests from buying the court (“Tobacco lawyer: Influence not factor in funding help”, Aug. 17; Jack Elliott, Jr., “Scruggs defends Diaz, Tuck loans”, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Aug. 15)(see Jul. 27 and links from there).
Update: Miss. high court justice, trial lawyer indicted
“A Mississippi Supreme Court justice and a wealthy attorney who helped land the state millions in tobacco settlement money were among five people indicted Friday on federal fraud and bribery charges. Biloxi attorney Paul Minor is accused of funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to Justice Oliver Diaz Jr., Diaz’ former wife, Jennifer, and to two lower court judges. In return, Minor allegedly received favorable treatment for Minor and his clients in cases involving multimillion dollar judgments.” The 16-count indictment also names former Harrison County Judges Wes Teel and John Whitfield. Prominent in the state’s tobacco litigation, Minor is the son of a well known Magnolia State political columnist, Bill Minor. (Jack Elliott Jr., “Justice, Attorney Charged in Mississippi”, AP/Sarasota Herald Tribune, Jul. 25; Jerry Mitchell, “Justice, 4 others indicted”, Jackson Clarion Ledger, Jul. 26; Jerry Mitchell, “Charges may alter opinions of Miss. judiciary”, Jackson Clarion Ledger, Jul. 27; Jack Elliott Jr., “Indictment of justice and lawyer come amid debate between Mississippi business, trial lawyers”, AP/New Orleans Times Picayune, Jul. 27). More: Beth Musgrave, “‘Go see Paul Minor'”, Biloxi Sun Herald, May 18. For our earlier coverage, see: Oct. 9-10 and Oct. 11-13, 2002; May 7 and Jul. 24, 2003.
Mississippi probers could consider indictments this week
“A federal grand jury investigating state trial lawyers, judges and a Supreme Court justice could consider indictments as early as this week.” (Jerry Mitchell, “Justice investigation may end this week”, Jackson Clarion Ledger, Jul. 23). And the Mississippi Supreme Court has issued a new rule providing “that in multi-judge districts and courts, civil cases shall be assigned immediately by a random method when the complaint is filed,” so that no one would know in advance who the judge was. “The problem is a few members of the bar are trying to manipulate the system to get the judge that they want,” said Chief Justice Edwin L. Pittman. (“Judge selection process revised”, AP/Jackson Clarion Ledger, May 31).
Suit charges lawyers with using fake clients in diet-drug cases
Mississippi: “Civil lawsuits filed in Jefferson County allege that lawyers signed up fake clients for a 1999 lawsuit that resulted in a $150 million jury verdict against the makers of a diet drug.” According to the allegations, lawyers knew that some clients being recruited into the action had never actually taken the diet drug but “looked the other way”. Defendant lawyers called the allegations “ridiculous” and “preposterous”. Federal law enforcers will not disclose details of their investigation of Jefferson County product liability litigation (see Jun. 29, May 7 and links from there), but it is known that the FBI has subpoenaed prescription records from Fayette’s Bankston Drug Store, which is frequently named in suits (see May 4-6, 2001). (Tom Wilemon, Beth Musgrave and Margaret Baker, “Lawyers faked diet-drug case clients, lawsuits claim”, Biloxi Sun-Herald, Jul. 1; “Miss. lawyers accused of wrongdoing in suit”, AP/Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Jul. 2).