Some defense attorneys no doubt shudder at the idea of walking into a Port Gibson, Miss., courtroom representing a client accused of exposing a plaintiff to silica. Afterall, the American Tort Reform Association has twice included the 22nd Circuit as among the nation's "judicial hell holes" based on its perceived plaintiff-friendly record.

Attorneys for the Jackson, Miss.-based civil trial law firm of Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy LLP made a significant ripple last week with what courthouse insiders described as the first take-nothing defense victory in such a case in memory. The lawsuit involved a 73-year-old man who asked jurors for $4.5 million in damages, charging that his lung disease was caused by products made by three companies between 1964 and 1995.

One key to the case's outcome: attorneys made brilliant use of a database developed by the firm that tracks area residents who have filed similar silica-exposure claims. Writes The AmLaw Litigation Daily:

What was the secret to the victory? It might have had something to do with a database of mass tort plaintiffs maintained by Kurtz's firm. During jury selection, Judge Lamar Pickard allowed Kurtz access to the last four digits of potential jurors' social security numbers to see if they or their family members had filed claims similar to Westrope's. The database identified four members of the jury pool (none of whom had mentioned their claims on a jury questionnaire). Kurtz was able to argue against putting them on the jury. "If we didn't have the database . . . we would have had four in the jury pool who could have been on the jury in this case," Kurtz told the Clarion Ledger.

The Forman Perry defense team representing Clemco and Precision was led by name partner Fred Krutz, along with partner Edwin S. "Win" Gault Jr., and associate Jennifer Jones Skipper. Lone Star was represented by David Barfield and Kimberly Mangum of Madison, Miss.-based Barfield & Associates. The firm represented represented Washington, Mo.-based Clemco Industries Corp. the world's largest manufacturer of air-powered blast cleaning equipment, and Little Rock, Ark.-based Precision Packaging, a packaging services company.