Jurors' Ties to Silica, Asbestos Cases Prompt Mistrial in Mississippi

PORT GIBSON, Miss. - A mistrial has been declared in a Mississippi silica trial after the presiding judge dismissed two jurors for failing to reveal during voir dire that they had ties to silica and asbestos cases. Westrope v. Pangborn, et al., No. 2007-38 (Miss. Cir. Ct., Claiborne Cty.).

Claiborne County Circuit Court Judge Lamar Pickard declared the mistrial Jan. 31 after it was determined that one of the 12 jurors had been a plaintiff in a prior silicosis lawsuit in Mississippi. Another juror admitted in chambers that two of her family members are plaintiffs in a lawsuit pending in …