Here is an appellate decision in the DuPont environmental and cancer case.  There is no mention of legal malpractice here.  Note however, the precluded experts, the precluded documents, and how the dissent paints the majority as corporate lackeys.

The case:"Glen Strong (Strong) and his wife, Connie, collectively "the Strongs," were among thirty-seven plaintiffs who filed suit in the Circuit Court of Jones County, Mississippi, Second Judicial District, against E.I. DuPont de Nemours Corporation (DuPont) in December 2002, in the matter of Govan v. DuPont, et al., Cause No. 2002-376-CV12. The Strongs did not have an individual complaint.1 At the same time, a larger group of approximately 2,200 plaintiffs filed a separate complaint against DuPont in the matter of Lizana v. DuPont, et al., Cause No. 2002-377-CV12, alleging similar injuries as in the Govan complaint. In fact, the only major difference in the two complaints was that the plaintiffs’ names were different.

¶ Two Mississippi residents also were named as defendants in the complaints, namely Waste Management of Mississippi and G.B. Boots Smith Corporation, a Laurel trucking company used to fix venue in Jones County, Mississippi.2 DuPont immediately removed the Govan and Lizana cases to federal court. DuPont alleged the fraudulent joinder of Waste Management and Boots Smith. The federal court remanded the Govan and Lizana cases to the trial court in February 2004.

I. Striking DuPont’s experts.

¶ This appeal follows a laborious and highly contentious discovery process during which the trial court struck nine of DuPont’s witnesses, including the majority of its designated experts. The trial court determined that "based upon the record, the history of abuses in this case, and pursuant to Miss. R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2), 37(e), Rule 11 and the court’s inherent powers to impose sanctions on those who abuse the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court finds that DuPont has indeed abused the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure."

¶ In its order in cause number 2005-M-01583-SCT dated August 16, 2005, this Court already ruled on DuPont’s emergency petition for interlocutory appeal and motion for stay regarding the trial court’s ruling to strike its experts, stating:

Petitioner seeks relief from the trial court’s order striking certain report and fact witnesses from participation in the trial scheduled for August 17, 2005. The Court finds that the trial court granted the motion to strike these witnesses as a sanction for petitioner’s prior abuse of the discovery process. The Court therefore finds that the emergency petition for interlocutory appeal and motion for stay should be denied. "

"DIAZ, PRESIDING JUSTICE, DISSENTING:

¶ One would never know from reading the majority the basis of Strong’s claims against DuPont: that for years DuPont knowingly deposited tons of toxic material into the waters of Bay St. Louis; that according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the DeLisle plant is the second largest emitter of potentially-carcinogenic dioxins in the country; that DuPont was aware of the risks associated with human exposure to these toxins since at least 1983; and that Glen Strong incurred roughly $675,000 in medical bills for treating his cancer which developed after living his entire life in close proximity to the plant and eating contaminated seafood from the bay. In light of these facts, and the thousands of pages of documentation supporting his claims, the "errors" found by the majority can hardly be deemed reversible.

¶ Today’s case is yet another example of this Court’s willingness to overturn a jury verdict when individuals have been awarded large damages against corporate defendants. In the last two years, this Court has been asked to consider at least eight cases involving large damage awards in favor of individual plaintiffs, and seven of these cases have been reversed. Mariner Health Care, Inc. v. Estate of Edwards, 2007 Miss. LEXIS 520 (Miss. Sept. 13, 2007) (reversing $6.5 million jury award against nursing home); Horace Mann Life Ins. Co. v. Nunaley, 960 So. 2d 455 (Miss. 2007) (reversing $1.9 million jury award and rendering judgment in favor of life insurance company); Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell, P.C. v. Muirhead, 920 So. 2d 440 (Miss. 2006) (reversing $1.6 million jury award for legal malpractice and rendering judgment in favor of defendant law firm); Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Williams, 936 So. 2d 888 (Miss. 2006) (reversing $1.5 million jury award against insurance company); Irby v. Travis, 935 So. 2d 884 (Miss. 2006) (reversing $3.75 million jury award in wrongful death case); GMC v. Myles, 905 So. 2d 535 (Miss. 2005) (reversing $5.4 million award in wrongful death case); 3M Co. v. Johnson, 895 So. 2d 151 (Miss. 2005) (reversing $25 million jury award and rendering judgment in favor of manufacturer). Compare Canadian Nat’l/Ill. Cent. R.R. v. Hall, 953 So. 2d 1084 (Miss. 2007) (affirming $1.5 million jury award against employer). See also Jimmie E. Gates, Justices Void $36.4M Award in Insurance Suit, Clarion Ledger, Oct. 2, 2007, at A1. Yet, despite the substantial evidence in this case supporting a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, the majority finds enough "cumulative error" to warrant a reversal. At some point, we must defer to the finders of fact and stop substituting this Court’s judgment for that of the jury.

¶ For the foregoing reasons, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court. "