A plaintiff lawyer’s lapses in a wrongful death product-liability suit against Ford Motor Co., culminating in his complete disappearance, has lawyers at his former firm struggling to pick up the pieces.

Joseph Albano has "fallen off the face of the earth," said the firm in a May 31 letter to the judge in the federal case. He had personal and perhaps clinical problems that led him to neglect the case and eventually to quit work. When last heard from, he said he was seeking professional help.