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Plaintiff lawyers put on alert by RICO settlement
A US$7.3m legal settlement in favour of a company sued over asbestos has demonstrated how the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act can be used on lawyers.
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After the settlement in favour of CSX Transportation, Sherman Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association, said: ‘CSX deserves a great deal of credit for its courage in turning the tables on these perpetrators of fraudulent asbestos litigation. This successful RICO litigation now serves as a model for other corporate defendants that have been plagued by such fraud for decades.’
Fraud claims
CSX used RICO to file a suit in 2007 against two plaintiffs attorneys - Robert Pierce and Louis Raimond - and a radiologist, accusing them of bringing fraudulent claims against it. After a federal jury found in favour of CSX and awarded it a total of $7.3m, the lawyers appealed. But the lawyers have now dropped their appeal. CSX says it is to receive the sum of $7.3m but would drop any other demands for legal fees and costs. Source: Businessweek
