ESP had a problem with empty case statements, it would lose the symbolic 'thread' that followed.
module bob ();
reg [31:0] a;
initial begin
a = 42;
case (a)
42: ; // This is the bug, this 'thread' disappears
endcase
$write("\n\nALL DONE\n\n"); // And we never see this
$finish;
end
endmodule