Last year a major asbestos defendant leveled RICO allegations against Dallas’ Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett in a federal court, alleging that the firm concealed evidence in an effort to drive up settlement values. And now the plaintiffs firm has fired back, alleging that their accusers are the real racketeers, in a recent counterclaim.
The case involves Garlock Sealing Technologies, a company that manufactured asbestos products for over 100 years. The company filed the RICO action against Simon Greenstone and two other Dallas law firms in a North Carolina federal court, alleging that they “knowingly and willfully” concealed evidence of their clients’ exposure to asbestos made by insolvent insulation companies to drive up settlement values with the then-solvent Garlock. Garlock eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2010 because of asbestos litigation.
