October 07, 2004

Madison County Circuit Judge Daniel J. Stack has replaced Nicholas Byron (Overlawyered Apr. 22, May 4) as the "chief asbestos judge" in the county, and his first decision involved a lawsuit brought by Paul Palmer Sr., a Louisiana resident, against eighty defendants whom he sought to blame for his mesothelioma. Judge Stack noted that Palmer lived fifteen miles from the Baton Rouge courthouse, 700 miles from the Madison County courthouse, and never worked or lived in Illinois. He thus granted defendants' motion for forum non conveniens opposing the forum shopping, a motion routinely denied by Judge Byron (Sep. 19). (Paul Hampel, "Asbestos judge tosses out 3 lawsuits", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 6).