This article from the Madison County Record reports that Judge Daniel Stack has decided to retire as of 2010. Judge Stack is well known as the Madison County judge who took over the asbestos docket from Judge Byron. Judge Stack is generally credited with having made Madison County a less extreme place to litigate for asbestos defendants, although that’s relative praise. That said, Madison County continues to grind out trial dates and settlements for asbestos cases, and so claims for 2009 are up from recent years.