Asbestos trial hits auction site

NEWS Two lawyers involved in the same court case have been embroiled in a bidding war for vital evidence on auction site eBay. The US lawyers, contesting the case of an asbestos-poisoning victim, were fighting over a 1941 naval machinery manual detailing how asbestos was used in ships. Mark Lanier, a lawyer who sues companies on behalf of asbestos victims, won the bidding battle after offering to pay $2,125 for the manual. eBay hosts auctions for many asbestos items which are regularly bought by lawyers for evidence, Lanier claimed. In related news, a Los Angeles lawyer also used eBay to buy old cigarette adverts in order to demonstrate to the court how a victim of lung cancer had originally become addicted to smoking.