Back in June, federal Judge Janis Graham Jack disparaged nearly all of 10,000 claims for the rare lung disease as having been "manufactured for money." She also told the lawyers involved that federal prosecutors wanted access to the documents and X-rays surrounding this "fraud." So imagine Judge Jack's surprise to discover at a hearing last Monday that Houston attorney Scott Hooper -- one of several tort lawyers who brought the claims -- had removed more than 1,300 X-rays from a court depository. The judge had specifically denied Mr. Hooper's request to take the X-rays. Ms. Jack told Mr. Hooper that...
