3M Looking to Force Recusal of Judge in Silica Cases

JACKSON, Miss. - One month after the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered the recusal of a state court judge with an alleged bias against a firm representing defendants in a silica case there, counsel for 3M has filed a similar mandamus petition in the state's highest court. In Re: 3M Company, No. 2002-M-1229 (Miss. Sup. Ct.).

In a second supplemented petition for extraordinary relief filed March 7 in the Mississippi Supreme Court, 3M claims that Judge Billy Jo Landrum should not be permitted to preside over more than two dozen Mississippi silicosis claims in which 3M is a defendant because of …