Defendants: Counsel Aware of Screening Fraud When Claims Were Filed

MACON, Miss. - Plaintiffs' counsel who claim they were 'shocked' by revelations of alleged fraudulent diagnosis among workers screened for silica-related diseases should not be permitted to use ignorance as a defense against sanctions, defendants argue in a brief filed recently in Mississippi. Baldwin, et al. v. Graco Enterprises Inc., et al., No. 2002-429 (Miss. Cir. Ct., Noxubee Cty.).

Numerous defendants filed a brief Feb. 21 in Noxubee County Circuit Court, responding to plaintiffs' counsel who have opposed a defense motion for sanctions in a silica suit the defendants say was filed on behalf of thousands of plaintiffs whose silicosis …