Harron
WHEELING, W.Va. - U.S. District Judge Frederick Stamp has cancelled a trial on CSX Transportation's claim that radiologist Ray Harron of Bridgeport conspired with Pittsburgh lawyers Robert Peirce and Louis Raimond to fabricate an asbestos exposure suit.
In a Sept. 1 letter, Stamp advised lawyers that instead of starting trial on Sept. 15, he would grant summary judgment motions that Harron and the lawyers filed in May.
"I will, of course, issue a detailed written memorandum opinion and order dealing with these motions as soon as possible," Stamp wrote.
A judge grants summary judgment upon finding that no issue of material fact exists.
CSX claimed Peirce's firm filed suit for railroad worker Earl Baylor of Kentucky after Harron supplied a false "B-read" of an X-ray.
The summary judgment motions argued that the Peirce firm didn't file Baylor's suit until radiologist Donald Breyer confirmed Harron's report.
"Had Dr. Harron's reading not been confirmed, no lawsuit would have been brought," Jerald Jones of Clarksburg wrote for Harron in May.
"Any false representation relating to Mr. Baylor's medical condition was based on Dr. Breyer's B-read," he wrote.
Walter DeForest of Pittsburgh wrote in the Peirce firm's motion that obtaining a second medical opinion precluded a finding of fraudulent intent.
Lawyers argued the motions at a pretrial conference on Aug. 31, and Stamp quickly made up his mind.
Stamp conducted a trial in the same case in August, on CSX's claim that Robert Gilkison of the Peirce firm failed to prevent railroad worker Ricky May from filing a bogus suit.
Jurors in that trial exonerated Gilkison and the firm.