West Virginia Judge Acknowledges Abuse Fills Asbestos Docket
On February 5, 2020, Judge Ronald Wilson of Kanawha County trial court issued an order that expressly acknowledged “abuse” in his asbestos docket involving lawsuits against “questionable defendants” based on “evidence of their liability” that “amounts to a mere gable in a lawsuit.” He expressed great frustration with the failure of the plaintiffs’ lawyers to reduce the number of cases for settlement discussions to a reasonable number.
He concluded by saying that because of the excessive number of defendants listed in the lawsuits, further investigation into the docket may be required.
The order points to five specific plaintiffs’ firms handling asbestos cases in West Virginia:
- Prim Law Firm and Savinis Kane & Gallucci LLC have 169 total defendants in three plaintiffs’ cases
- Goldberg Persky & White have 162 total defendants in three plaintiffs’ cases
- Antion & McGee Law Group have 158 total defendants involved in eight plaintiffs’ cases
- Motley Rice have 66 total defendants in five plaintiffs’ cases
