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Mining eBay for Asbestos Exhibits

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
October 02, 2003

Houston plaintiffs' lawyer W. Mark Lanier has been on an eBay binge lately, buying industrial manuals, magazine advertisements, ashtrays, floor tiles, roof shingles, a sealed pack of Kent cigarettes from the 1950s, fire-protection cloth and even spray-on artificial snow for making a humdrum Christmas tree more festive.

Mr. Lanier is not a shopaholic ' all the items he has won on the online auction Web site either contain asbestos or information about it. His purchases become evidence for his docket of asbestos cases, discovery he freely shares with other plaintiffs' lawyers who represent people who allege they were injured through exposure to asbestos.

The hunt on eBay for asbestos-related goods makes Lanier identify with Perry Mason, the crafty fictional criminal defense attorney.

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