Peirce
WHEELING (Legal Newsline) – CSX Transportation will need to supply the asbestos firm it is suing with files from 10,000 cases that don't involve the firm.
U.S. District Judge Frederick Stamp, of West Virginia's northern district, ruled Wednesday that CSX must comply with a discovery request made by Peirce, Raimond & Coulter, a Pittsburgh firm accused of conspiring with a radiologist to fabricate asbestos claims.
Stamp's ruling upheld an earlier decision by Magistrate Judge James Seibert.
"Even though CSX stated that it will not attempt to prove frauds other than the 11 claimants at issue, it also argued that the Peirce firm's general asbestos practice and the settlement of claims other than the 11 currently at issue could be very compelling evidence of a conspiracy," Stamp wrote.
"Counsel for CSX went on to confirm that CSX's position is that it 'can use other relevant evidence that shows what was going on that goes beyond the 11 people.' Considering the broad nature of the allegations in this case, this court finds no clear error in the magistrate judge's determination that there is no unreasonable burden in ordering the requested discovery."
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