Radiologist found what lawyers paid him to find, CSX attorney says (The following story by Steve Korris appeared on the West Virginia Record website on April 15, 2009.)
WHEELING W. Va. Radiologist Ray Harron of Bridgeport, W. Va., refuses to testify about X-rays he read twice with different results, according to railroad company CSX Transportation.
CSX, seeking damages from Harron and others for the costs of asbestos litigation, wants U. S. District Judge Frederick Stamp to require Harron to explain his reversals.
Harron's lawyers wouldn't let him explain at a March 11 deposition, CSX lawyer Marc Williams of Huntington wrote in an April 10 motion to compel answers.
Harron's reversals from reports finding asbestosis to reports finding silicosis are clearly relevant, Williams argued.
They tend to show that Harron found what lawyers paid him to find, he wrote.
They constitute circumstantial evidence of conspiracy, he wrote.
Stamp set a hearing May 4.
CSX sued Harron and the Pittsburgh law firm of Peirce, Raimond and Coulter in 2005, after U. S. District Judge Janis Jack of Texas exposed fabrication of X-ray reports.
Stamp ruled that CSX could conduct discovery on Harron in connection with a suit the Peirce firm filed for former CSX employee Earl Baylor.
Although Harron kept his mouth shut about reversals at his deposition, he opened it when someone mentioned Jack.
"I am not here to pick a fight with Judge Jack," he said.
"I am here to talk about Mr. Baylor," he said.
A day before Williams filed the motion the Peirce firm opposed summary judgment on a claim that two clients switched bodies at an X-ray screening session.
The firm's lawyer, Walter DeForest of Pittsburgh, argued that if the clients committed fraud the firm didn't know about it.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
-- Edited by Troll on Thursday 16th of April 2009 09:38:31 AM
