Williams
Massie
Bolen
Peirce
WHEELING – Pittsburgh asbestos lawyer Robert Peirce, defending his firm against CSX Transportation in a fraud trial, plans to call the railroad's lawyers as witnesses.
Peirce's witness list includes Robert Massie, Marc Williams and David Bolen, all of Huddleston Bolen in Huntington.
The list appeared in a plan that U.S. District Frederick Stamp adopted on July 27 for a trial he plans to start Aug. 11.
Stamp's trial plan noted that CSX objected to Peirce calling its lawyers to the stand, though the plan didn't identify the lawyer who wrote the objection.
"Counsel for the defendant Peirce firm cannot wait until the eve of trial to disclose their intention to call CSX's attorneys as witness," the objecting lawyer wrote.
"The only information that counsel could offer would be protected from disclosure pursuant to the attorney-client privilege as all work performed in this matter was done at the request and direction of the client," he wrote.
The trial plan shows that Peirce also plans to introduce Huddleston Bolen invoices as evidence. It shows that CSX objects to them as irrelevant.
CSX aims to prove that Peirce employee Robert Gilkison developed and carried out a plan to have former employee Daniel Jayne sit for former employee Ricky May's X-ray.
"This X-ray was then used by the defendant Peirce firm for purposes of obtaining an asbestosis settlement from CSX," the railroad claims in the trial plan.
The Peirce firm argues that a two-year statute of limitations ran out on any claim over the May fraud.
The firm argues that CSX "failed to mitigate its damages because it spent far in excess of the amount it lost by reason of the May fraud."