John Ulizio became the CEO of U.S. Silica in 2003. That year alone, the firm got 20,000 specks of sand kicked in its face — 20,000 lawsuits insisting that the company was causing a deadly lung disease. Ulizio has been fighting back ever since.
U.S. Silica processes sand. Silica. Silicon dioxide. Grinds it so that it can be used in everything from glass to Kevlar.
Clouds of sand dust may sound like a horrifying health hazard. Maybe worse than SARS, swine flu, and psoriasis put together, judging by the spate of litigation against Ulizio’s company. But lawyers don’t necessarily need sound medical evidence to go for lawsuit gold. Sometimes they just make it up.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the harassment of U.S. Silica was even more blatant than this. After many years of costly court battles, a federal judge has concluded that that Silica was the victim of massive, unadorned fraud. Doctors involved now admit that they didn’t even see the patients allegedly suffering from the disease . . . just did what the lawyers told them. The fraud fell apart, and the frivolous lawsuits against U.S. Silica have abruptly abated.
Now vindicated, Ulizio is amazed that “finally, after all these years, somebody is seeing the truth.” Sad that we live in a world where this took so long. Lucky that it’s a world with folks like John Ulizio.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
7 replies on “They Kicked His Own Sand In His Face”
[…] They Kicked His Own Sand In His Face […]
Hopefully, but doubtful, the perpetrators of these frauds are being sued by Mr. Ulizio for enough money to pay for the years of legal fees and damage to his company.
This is not the first time, nor sadly the last, that greedy lawyers and their “clients” have
done this to companies. In California there is a plague of this going on. Offices must make sure the doors are wide enough for a wheel chair, mirrors are at the right height, etc. or have the dread fear of the lurking investigator, poseing as a cliet sue and win for thousands of dollars. Often they put companies out of business. They could just make a complaint but for some reason common sense makes no cents so they go after the big $$.
Sleazy lawyers and doctors committed fraud regarding silica, silicon breast implants, asbestos, pesticides, and other health hazards. Asbestos and pesticides really can be injurious, so the frauds were easy. Silica and silicon breast implants were not injurious, and I was astounded at how readily courts accepted junk medical science as evidence.
For these reasons and others, I believe that civil court cases should be tried by impartial expert panels rather than judges and juries with no background. Financial duplicity cases should go to panels comprised of accountants and similar experts. Medical injury cases should go to panels comprised of physicians and toxicologists. Such expert panels would make it harder for fraudulent cases to win.
This is why I have been an advocate of the “English System” for years. Frivolous lawsuits cost the plaintiff’s attorney virtually nothing for the potential of a percentage of a huge settlement or of a judgement by an ill-informed and/or biased jury. If the plaintiff were required to pay the defendant’s costs when the plaintiff lost, it would put an end to the judicial lottery. Even in clear cases of abuse, it is extremely rare for a plaintiff’s attorney to be disciplined by his peers.
SOUNDS LIKE “WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND” IN REGARDS TO THE LAWYERS.
THEY SHOULD BE DIS-BARRED, OR FACE A LAW SUIT THAT WILL PAY OFF ALL OF THE DEFENDANTS.
MAYBE THAT WILL STOP THE FRIVOLOUS SUITS.
Doctors involved now admit that they didn’t even see the patients allegedly suffering from the disease . . . just did what the lawyers told them.
And will the doctors pay a penalty for their own fraud? Will they be reprimanded or face any sanction from the AMA for violating their oath? Doubtful.