Texas Torts Firm Says Business Is Booming, Expands Houston Office
By Alison Frankel
April 06, 2009
Looks like the securities class action shops aren't the only firms beefing up in the downturn: On Monday we got word from torts wizard Mark Lanier that he's just hired six lawyers for his 20-lawyer Houston-based asbestos litigation group, and he plans to hire at least six more.Lanier told the Litigation Daily that his firm, which now numbers 40 lawyers, is busier than ever with product liability and commercial plaintiffs work. "When times are rough, for our little niche that means more business," he said. "Companies cut safety programs, slow up fixing things, and that leads to an increase in general tort work. On the business side, companies are quicker to unreasonably interpret contracts, so that's resulted in an uptick in business law cases."
In asbestos, Lanier's firm handles only mesothelioma cases, which he said have not slowed even though it's been decades since asbestos has been widely used. We asked whether the complaints by tort reformers that Delaware has become a haven for asbestos litigation were true, and, somewhat to our surprise, Lanier said that indeed, Delaware had become a frequent forum. But not, he hastened to add, because it's particularly friendly to plaintiffs. "It's not a home run forum for us," Lanier said. "It's a one-stop shop. You have jurisdiction over most defendants there."
We couldn't let that comment pass without asking what were still home run jurisdictions for asbestos claimants. There aren't a lot, Lanier said: Baltimore; New York; some parts of California, though that's beginning to change; and West Virginia, if you can get jurisdiction there. Lanier told us he's hoping to revive Texas asbestos litigation and is making a new push to file cases in Boston.
Lanier also told us he's thinking about expanding his New York-based pharmaceutical litigation group, thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling in Wyeth v. Levine. "That was such a huge relief," Lanier said. "If it had gone the other way..." Lanier joked that the Court's Wyeth opinion came despite his best efforts. "I have marginal relationships with three justices at the Supreme Court," he said. (We previously wrote about his hunting trip with Antonin Scalia.) "Those were the three who dissented. I'm under strict orders not to get to know any other justices."
