"The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity."

In 1985, teacher Nancy Swan and over two dozen school children and teachers were left with serious injuries, including permanent eye, respiratory, and neurological damage, after highly toxic and deadly chemicals were sprayed during the school day. The spray-on foam roofing and sealant products contained methyl isocyanate, toluene diisocyanate, and other highly toxic chemicals, including Xylene.

The students and teachers injured at Long Beach Junior High School in Mississippi, were were not alone. For the next twenty five years, parents of schoolchildren and personnel in schools all over the nation, including Florida, Texas, and California, reported similar injuries from exposure to the same type of chemicals.

Despite an attempted cover-up by the school district and the contractor, Nancy, and the mother of one of the injured students, rounded up the injured children and teachers, then retained Biloxi attorney Paul Minor and his associate Judy Guice to represent them.

Because Nancy was the most seriously injured, Paul Minor  filed her complaint first in January 1986 and consolidated the remaining students and teachers in a case to be filed later.    While they were preparing to go to trial, Nancy's case took a tragic turn in September 1987, when her judge, Harrison County Circuit Court Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife Margaret Sherry were murdered.

Swan's case and the potential "Student's Case,"  was assigned to Harrison County Circuit Court Judge Jerry O. Terry.  For the next six years, Nancy and her family fell victim to a legal system out of control. Weary from years of being stalked by criminals and harassed by league of private investigators, the Swan family hoped for justice after their case had been assigned to a third judge, John Whitfield.

Swan vs Carboline became the longest running toxic tort case in Mississippi history.  During the fifteen years Nancy Swan's case languished in state courts, she had been led by her attorneys to believe her case and the case of injured students had been stalled as a result of the murder of Judge Sherry, judicial misconduct by Judge Terry, and interference by the mysterious  "criminal element."  Just days before her trial was scheduled to begin in February 2000, Nancy suspected something else even more sinister was plaguing their cases, something else her attorneys had been hiding from her.

Out of time, out of money, out of options, and threatened by her attorney, Paul Minor, Nancy took a leap of faith and set out to find the truth about what happened to her case.  Her quest for justice took her into the dark and dangerous side of the law, where judges are out of order, lawyers outside the law, and lawmakers protect their secrets.   Nancy discovered that uncovering corruption was difficult, but exposing it was near impossible.

Nancy Swan's true story, Toxic Justice, reaches into every home, school, courtroom, politician's office, medical and law school with a story that reveals one of America's dirtiest secrets: how thousands of American school children and adults continue to be exposed to deadly toxins, denied chemical information, medical care, legal recourse, and denied justice.

In the vein of A Civil Action meets The Client, Toxic Justice will be the first book to be told by an insider, a victim of chemical poisoning, a plaintiff in a landmark toxic tort case, and a whistle-blower in a high profile judicial bribery scandal.

Please read the Prologue, Chapter 1, and Chapter 16 of Toxic Justice which is posted as sub-pages to this page.   To be notified upon publication of Toxic Justice, or have suggestions or comments, please contact Nancy Swan at nswan342@gmail.com. 

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