GULFPORT, Miss. (CN) - In a legal malpractice complaint, 153 plaintiffs claim a law firm had them falsely diagnosed with silicosis "to extort global settlements" of millions of dollars from Halliburton, 3M and other underlying defendants.
Lead plaintiff Earnest Poindexter sued John O'Quinn & Associates PLLC, Danziger & De Llano LLP, eight individuals, and O'Quinn's law firm under other names, in Harrison County Court.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs claim the attorneys and professionals associated with their firms participated in a "scheme to improperly diagnose plaintiffs with silicosis in order to further their efforts to amass as large of a silicosis docket as possible to extort global settlements from the underlying defendants all to the detriment of the health and well-being of their clients."
Silicosis, which comes from exposure to silicon, is a deadly lung disease associated with a greatly increased risk of tuberculosis and lupus.
"This case arises out of the horrific and unfortunate malfeasance committed by The O'Quinn Law Firm ... its attorneys and referring lawyers during the representation of thousands of clients who were diagnosed with the devastating and potentially fatal disease of silicosis," the complaint states. "For over ten years, O'Quinn, at the leadership of its principle attorneys, John M. O'Quinn ... and Richard Laminack ... in addition to the medical experts hand-selected by the Firm, led clients, the judicial system, defendants in the underlying case and opposing counsel to believe that its clients had silicosis in order to 'fuel a silicosis litigation machine' and generate millions of dollars in attorney's fees and expenses. At the end of the day, Mr. O'Quinn, Laminack, the Firm and its attorneys placed their interests and the interests of the screening companies involved above those of its clients. This is the sad reality of O'Quinn's approach to mass-tort litigation and this is the story of the residual victims of that approach, their clients.
"O'Quinn represented approximately three-thousand (3,000) clients who were occupationally exposed to silica-containing products and materials and diagnosed as having silica related diseases ... against numerous manufacturers and distributors of silica related products, materials and/or protective equipment. ... Plaintiffs, like other Silicosis Clients, were solicited by attorneys and other individuals, law firms, or screening companies to undergo medical screening to determine if they had silicosis. Plaintiffs were then solicited to enter into contracts with law firms who promised to litigate their silicosis claims against the Silicosis Defendants. These law firms subsequently referred Plaintiffs to O'Quinn. As much as 98 percent of O'Quinn's silicosis docket came from referring law firms. The referring law firms included Danziger & De Llano, LLP, Paul Danziger, Rod De Llano ('Danziger') and Stacie F. Taylor ... among others ... all of which remained jointly responsible for any wrongful acts committed by O'Quinn or its attorneys." [All ellipses mark shortened titles, not elision of information: i.e. ('Silicosis Defendants'), and the like.]
The complaint adds: "After filing the silicosis lawsuits, O'Quinn utilized Dr. Harron's reports to obtain global settlements out of some of the underlying defendants. By January of 2004, O'Quinn had entered into global settlements with underlying defendants Moldex, 3M, Air Liquide, Halliburton and Clemtex which, if properly processed, totaled over $55 million dollars. The settlements were typically based off of various factors including the clients' exposure history with each Silicosis Defendants' product, the clients' lung function to radiographic reading ... and whether the client had been diagnosed with any diseases linked to silicosis such as Lupus, Tuberculosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lung Cancer, or Scleroderma, just to name a few.