A Los Angeles pipe manufacturer that has been sued thousands of times for allegedly causing asbestos-related disease in workers handling its products is accusing a leading law firm of filing fraudulent cases.<\/p>\n
J-M Manufacturing, which does business as JM Eagle,<\/a> filed a federal RICO lawsuit Wednesday in Illinois alleging the Gori Law Firm in Edwardsville, Ill., brought sham lawsuits against it as part of a strategy to reach costly mass settlements. <\/p>\n The lawsuit alleges the law firm\u2019s plaintiffs \u2014 who might suffer from lung cancer or mesothelioma, a rare aggressive organ cancer caused by asbestos \u2014 were coached by trained attorneys to identify the company\u2019s pipe as the source of their exposure, even when that was demonstrably false.<\/p>\n It accuses the law firm of a \u201csystematic scheme of fraud operating beneath the surface of ostensibly ordinary asbestos litigation.\u201d The company said it learned of the alleged fraud after a former firm attorney came forward. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are outraged by these ridiculous claims from an asbestos company. These scare tactics will not stop us from fighting for justice for our clients who are hurt by manufacturers like J-M Manufacturing Co.,\u201d the firm said in response to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n The firm\u2019s website says it has \u201crecovered\u201d more than $4 billion<\/a> for its clients.<\/p>\n Asbestos is a mined fibrous silicate that was widely used in home insulation, automobiles and other applications through the 1970s until its use was slowly phased out as its health impacts became widely known.<\/p>\n JM Eagle is a large producer of plastic and PVC pipe, a business it got into in 1982 after purchasing those operations from Johns-Manville Corp., which went bankrupt because of asbestos claims. It is privately held by Los Angeles billionaire Walter Wang,<\/a> chairman and chief executive, and has about $2 billion in annual revenue.<\/p>\n The company also manufactured asbestos-cement pipe from 1983 to 1988 used by municipal water systems, sewer systems and other customers. The company contends the pipe poses no health threat unless improperly handled, such as by cutting it with a power saw or drill.<\/p>\n This is the second RICO, or Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, lawsuit filed by JM Eagle against big plaintiff firms, which advertise widely for clients suffering from asbestos-related illnesses and then file cases against makers of products containing the mineral. <\/p>\n The federal lawsuits, which originally targeted organized crime, are commonly filed in big civil disputes because they allow for triple damages. However, they are complex to litigate since a conspiracy must be proven among the defendants in addition to any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n The first lawsuit was brought in May 2024 against Simmons Hanly Conroy, an Alton, Ill., firm JM Eagle says filed more than 430 cases against it since 2001. It similarly accused the law firm of coaching patients with asbestos diseases to incorrectly identify the company as the source of their exposure.<\/p>\n The firm\u2019s website says it has recovered over $10.7 billion<\/a> for its clients.<\/p>\n JM Eagle said in its lawsuit that it became aware of the alleged fraud after a former Simmons attorney hired to handle asbestos cases was terminated and filed a lawsuit accusing the firm of unlawful and unethical conduct. The law firm and its former employee later reached a private settlement.<\/p>\n JM Eagle alleges that it conducted reviews of past Simmons and Gori cases and found ones that were blatantly bogus, such as those involving plaintiffs who had stopped working before the company produced its asbestos pipe. <\/p>\n It alleges the cases were filed in plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions and used as \u201cbargaining chips\u201d by the firms, which would agree to dismiss them in negotiating a settlement.<\/p>\n A judge dismissed the Simmons lawsuit last year, ruling JM Eagle had failed to prove a conspiracy as required under RICO law. However, the company amended the lawsuit in November by adding a second firm it said fed leads to Simmons. <\/p>\n John Storino, an attorney representing Simmons and other defendants, called the amended lawsuit a \u201crecycled version of claims the court has already rejected.\u201d<\/p>\n It is estimated by ratings agency A.M. Best that insurers have spent more than $100 billion<\/a> paying asbestos-related claims since the 1970s. The cases are ongoing, with plaintiffs also filing claims against the trusts of companies bankrupted by the litigation. Payouts to mesothelioma victims can top $1 million.<\/p>\n Consulting firm KCIC found that the number of cases filed in the first half of last year rose 4% to more than 4,300.<\/a> <\/p>\n