Former Silicosis Clients Sue Deceased Houston Lawyer’s Firm

In life, famed trial lawyer John O’Quinn was seldom far removed from controversy. As it has turned out, even death hasn’t changed things much.

The latest legal dust-up involving O’Quinn, who died in a one-car traffic accident in 2009, took place in mid-December when a group of 31 former silicosis clients accused his law firm of failing to pay them settlements made on their behalf, instead using the funds as seed money to help finance an effort to turn their illness into a mass tort by enlisting tens of thousands of additional clients.