Harron
Peirce
RICHMOND, Va. -– Owners of CSX Transportation will ask federal appeals judges to reverse District Judge Frederick Stamp's cancellation of their fraud conspiracy trial against radiologist Ray Harron of Bridgeport and Robert Peirce's law firm.
The Fourth Circuit appeals court in Richmond docketed CSX's appeal on Oct. 5.
Stamp called off the trial last month, three weeks before it would have started.
If fraud occurred, he ruled, it didn't harm CSX.
"CSX cannot produce evidence sufficient for a reasonable jury to find that CSX relied upon the defendants' alleged fraudulent act," he wrote on Sept. 15.
CSX claimed Harron fabricated evidence in an asbestos exposure suit that Peirce filed for Earl Baylor of Tennessee in Harrison County.
Harron has achieved national notoriety by claiming Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination before Congress and in depositions.
Four years ago, U.S. District Judge Janis Jack of Corpus Christi, Texas, found that he diagnosed asbestosis and silicosis from the same X-ray, thousands of times.
He has lost his license in seven states.
No one has charged him any crime, nor has anyone charged the lawyers who paid for the phony diagnoses.
Countless claims with Harron's fingerprints on them remain pending nationwide.
In West Virginia, former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Recht stands ready to clear state courts of Harron cases.
As special judge for mass asbestos litigation, he offered last month to grant motions from CSX to dismiss suits that relied on Harron's X-rays.