January 11th, 2005

The Massachusetts trial attorneys association is aiming to sue the State for asbestos related danger posed to staff, attorneys, and prisoners at a Middlesex County Courthouse during renovation work. The association wants the building to be evacuated during the renovation to eliminate the risk of these parties being exposed to asbestos, which can cause a myriad of health problems including a deadly cancer known as mesothelioma.

The trial lawyers association has voted unanimously to sue the State should the need arise, and the association has demanded the evacuation of the Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse before $14.3 million renovations commence in spring of this year. “This is a serious issue,” said Alan Pierce, a Salem attorney and the president of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. “`People's health and safety are in jeopardy.”

Judges that work in the courthouse have also written to the State’s Chief Justice for Administration and Management, Robert Mulligan, stating that renovations should be postponed, and that a plan needs to be put into place for court sessions to take place elsewhere before the work is started. One Middlesex attorney has already pledged to move all eighty of her staff from the courthouse if she feels that they are at risk.