Russell Allen et al vs. American Petrofina Inc. et al was filed in 1987 by attorney Joseph Blanks, then of the prominent Beaumont, Texas firm of Reaud, Morgan & Quinn and named 101 plaintiffs and 10 defendants. Its two-decade history since then is told by Scott Sabatini in the pages of the (U.S. Chamber-backed) Southeast Texas Record, in a lengthy account that touches on many of the key problems of asbestos litigation. Among the points touched on: the vast growth of the caseload, constantly running ahead of defendants' hopeful assumptions; the increasingly "colorful, provocative and accusatory" tone of plaintiffs' filings; the assemblage of relatively meritorious and relatively unmeritorious cases into unified convoys, to the tactical benefit of the latter (the "aggregate settlement model"); the eagerness of many business defendants to settle even as it became evident that dubious cases were multiplying; the bankruptcy of leading defendants and successful refocusing on others who had been more peripheral; and, finally, the legislative reaction in Texas, turning one of the nation's most attractive states for asbestos lawsuits into one of its most inhospitable. Among those interviewed: noteworthy defense-side attorneys Bill Skepnek and Mark Behrens.