An Iowa judge in March took the unusual step of denying the pro hac vice application of Texas attorney Jessica Dean, a partner at the plaintiffs firm Dean Omar Branham Shirley, after two defendants in an asbestos case pointed out that she had omitted information from her application.

Dean acknowledged the inaccuracies and revealed that the issues ran “deeper than what has been raised” by defendants Ford Motor Co. and Honeywell. In a March 9 filing in Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, Dean explained that a firm employee had repeatedly “submitted and signed pro hac vice applications without obtaining the review, approval, or signature of the attorneys in question.”