Silicosis Cases Dropped by Plaintiffs’ Counsel
Negotiation ends threat in South Carolina
In 2005, plaintiffs’ lawyers based in Texas and North Carolina filed 118 lawsuits in South Carolina against silica producers and related-product manufacturers.
These suits were part of a national trend of silicosis suit filings. The goal seemed to be to have silicosis litigation take the place of the highly successful (for plaintiffs’ counsel) asbestosis litigation.
A manufacturer of respirators retained Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd.
Clarke DuBose and Steve McKinney took a lead role in very contentious negotiations with plaintiffs’ counsel over the terms of case management and discovery documents in the case.
Working with the client’s national counsel, Mr. DuBose negotiated a favorable case management order and plaintiff’s fact sheet. He further negotiated an agreement that no defendant fact sheet would be required. (These documents were later adopted by other jurisdictions faced with similar litigation.)
As a result, the respirator manufacturer was quickly dismissed from all 118 cases. The majority of cases were subsequently dismissed against the remaining defendants as well, and the few remaining cases are unlikely to ever be tried.