State High Court Sides with Sandblaster in Limitations Appeal

JACKSON, Miss. - The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied three defense petitions for interlocutory appeal of a trial court decision allowing a silica plaintiff to pursue his case despite allegations that the suit was filed nearly four years after doctors informed the plaintiff he had silicosis. Unimin Corp. v. Riggle, No. 2006-M-01806-SCT (Miss. Sup. Ct.).

In separate orders issued Nov. 16 and 17, a three judge panel rejected the defendants' contention that Dennis Riggle's suit was barred by Mississippi's three-year statute of limitations because Riggle's medical records indicated that he had silicosis in 2001. Riggle, who testified that he believed …