 |
March 13, 2009 |
|
|
|
 |
ASBESTOS LITIGATION: NSI Suits v. Radiologists Ongoing in Miss. National Service Industries' lawsuits against two radiologists (in Lexington, Miss., state court filed on Feb. 9, 2009) and three others (in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Miss., filed on Feb. 12, 2009) are ongoing. In the state complaint, Marcy Croft of Jackson reserved 20 John Doe docket spaces for law firm defendants, and in her federal suit she listed that many targets and more. She chose Michael Fitzgerald, Esq., of Virginia as first target, naming him as a defendant in the federal suit. The state suit alleges that N&M Inc. ran a racket that manufactured asbestos claims, and the federal suit alleges a racket at Respiratory Testing Services. The federal suit claims NSI lost US$80 million to the Respiratory Testing Services racket. The state suit connects N&M to radiologists Ray Harron and son Andrew Harron. The federal suit connects Respiratory Testing Services to radiologists Ray Segarra, James Ballard and Phillip Lucas. In February 2009 at federal court at Wheeling, W.Va., District Judge Frederick Stamp denied a motion to dismiss Ray Harron from a lawsuit over asbestos suits. In that case CSX Transportation seeks damages from the Pittsburgh firm of Peirce, Raimond and Coulter, and from Ray Harron. CSX moved on March 3, 2009 to compel Ray Harron to produce records of his X-ray income. CSX counsel David Bolen, Esq., of Huddleston Bolen in Huntington, W.Va., wrote, "Such compensation would be admissible at trial to demonstrate Harron's motive to continue receiving income from the lawyer defendants and other law firms." The motion seeks W-2 income slips of Ray Harron's employees. Mr. Bolen wrote that employees could testify about Ray Harron's misconduct. The motion seeks invoices from Ray Harron to Peirce. Magistrate James Seibert set a March 18, 2009 hearing on the motion. Ray Harron also faces a parallel suit in Pittsburgh, where Lumbermens Mutual Casualty denies responsibility for Peirce's defense or potential judgment against him at Wheeling. Lumbermens Mutual argues that its policy did not cover racketeering. Ray Harron moved in January 2009 to dismiss the insurer's claim against him. Lumbermens lawyer Louis Long, Esq., of Pittsburgh answered in February 2009 that depending on the outcome at Wheeling, Ray Harron could assert a claim against Lumbermens Mutual. Pressure on Mr. Segarra increased on Feb. 24, when a federal judge responsible for about 90,000 asbestos suits stripped him of physician patient privilege. District Judge Eduardo Robreno of Philadelphia ordered Mr. Segarra and radiologists Laxminaraya and Richard Bernstein to answer defense subpoenas. |
|
|
||
| return to main page | ||
|
Lloyd's Asbestos Litigation Reporter
is a weekly newsletter distributed every Friday co-published by
Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, USA, and
Beard Group, Inc., Frederick, Maryland, USA.
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1945-4694.
This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or publication
in any form (including e-mail forwarding, electronic re-mailing and photocopying)
is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the publishers.
Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to be reliable,
but is not guaranteed.
The Lloyd's Asbestos Litigation Reporter subscription rate is $575 for six months delivered via e-mail.
Additional e-mail subscriptions for members of the same firm
for the term of the initial subscription or balance thereof, are $25 each.
For subscription information, contact Christopher Beard at 240/629-3300 ext 1.