Judge Discharges Special Master in Silica Cases

HAZLEHURST, Miss. - A judge in Mississippi has allowed plaintiffs in a silica case to withdraw from an agreement appointing a Special Master to oversee the litigation amid allegations that the defendants have paid him in excess of $400,000 and recently entered into an ex parte agreement to fund the Special Master's Web site. Johnson, et al. v. American Optical, et al., No. 2002-0030 (Miss. Cir. Ct., Copiah Cty.).

Judge Lamar Pickard of the Copiah County Circuit Court said at the conclusion of a Nov. 5 hearing that although he has found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of …