JACKSON, Miss. -- Two Mississippi plaintiffs lawyers, including a former state lawmaker, committed fraud during an asbestos lawsuit they filed in 2001 and should pay Illinois Central Railroad Co. $420,000 in damages, a federal jury has decided.

Illinois Central claimed McComb attorneys William Guy and Thomas Brock knew their clients lied about being involved in earlier asbestos litigation when they were questioned during the railroad lawsuit.

Guy served two terms as a state representative in the late 1960s and 1970s before moving to the Senate for one term. He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1995.

The jury made its decision Monday and awarded the company actual and punitive damages. Illinois Central asked the court Wednesday to also force the lawyers to pay more than $145,000 in interest dating back to the time of the settlements.

The lawyers claimed during trial that they didn't know their clients had been plaintiffs in the earlier asbestos litigation.

An attorney for Guy and Brock, John Corlew of Jackson, said Thursday he couldn't comment because there are matters still pending before the court.

Illinois Central said it would not have settled with two former employees _ Warren Turner Jr. for $120,000 in 2002 and Willie Harried for $90,000 in 2003 _ if the company had known they had already been involved in another asbestos lawsuit.

Illinois Central sued Harried in 2006 and Turner in 2007 in U.S. District Court in Natchez, accusing both men of lying in sworn statements. The company eventually accused the lawyers of knowing about the deception and the two lawsuits were consolidated.