BNSF Railway contributed to 2 deaths in Montana city the place asbestos sickened hundreds, jury finds

The jury awarded $4 million every in compensatory damages to the estates of the two plaintiffs, who died in 2020. Jurors mentioned asbestos-contaminated vermiculite that spilled within the rail yard within the city of Libby, Montana was a considerable issue within the plaintiffs’ diseases and deaths.

Relations of the 2 victims hugged their attorneys after the decision was introduced. An legal professional for the plaintiffs mentioned the ruling introduced some accountability, however one member of the family advised The Related Press that no amount of cash would change her misplaced sister.

“I’d rather have her than all the money in the world,” Judith Hemphill mentioned of her sister, Joyce Walder.

The vermiculite from Libby has excessive concentrations of naturally-occurring asbestos and was utilized in insulation and for different industrial functions in houses and companies throughout the U.S.

After being mined from a mountaintop outdoors city, it was loaded onto rail automobiles that typically spilled the fabric within the Libby rail yard. Residents have described piles of vermiculite being saved within the yard and dirt from the power blowing via downtown Libby.

The jury didn’t discover that BNSF acted deliberately or with indifference so no punitive damages had been awarded. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. acquired BNSF in 2010, 20 years after the W.R. Grace & Co. vermiculite mine close to Libby shut down and stopped transport the contaminated mineral.

The estates of the 2 victims argued that the railroad knew the asbestos-tainted vermiculite was harmful and failed to wash it up. Each lived close to the rail yard a long time in the past and died from mesothelioma, a uncommon lung most cancers linked to asbestos publicity.

The air pollution in Libby has been cleaned up, largely at public expense. W.R. Grace, which performed a central function within the city’s tragedy, filed for chapter in 2001 and paid $1.8 billion into an asbestos belief fund to settle future circumstances.

But the lengthy timeframe over which asbestos-related ailments develop means individuals beforehand uncovered are prone to proceed getting sick for years to return, well being officers say.

The case in federal civil court docket over the 2 deaths was the primary of numerous lawsuits towards the Texas-based railroad company to succeed in trial over its previous operations in Libby. Present and former residents of the small city close to the U.S.-Canada border want BNSF held accountable, accusing it of taking part in a job in asbestos publicity that well being officers say has killed a number of hundred individuals and sickened hundreds.

“This is good news. This is the first community exposure case that will hold the railroad accountable for what they’ve done,” mentioned Mark Lanier, an legal professional for Walder and Hemphill’s estates.

The railroad was contemplating whether or not to attraction, mentioned a BNSF spokesperson, who referred to it as a “very sad case.”

“They (the jury) had the difficult task of evaluating conduct that occurred more than 50 years ago, before BNSF ever existed,” mentioned Kendall Sloan, the railroad’s director of exterior communications.

BNSF legal professional Chad Knight advised jurors final week the railroad’s employees didn’t know the vermiculite was full of hazardous microscopic asbestos fibers.

“In the ‘50s, ’60s and ’70s no one in the public suspected there might be health concerns,” Knight mentioned Friday.

The railroad’s consultants additionally urged through the trial that the plaintiffs might have been uncovered to asbestos elsewhere.

The railroad mentioned it was obliged underneath regulation to ship the vermiculite, which was utilized in insulation and for different industrial functions, and that W.R. Grace staff had hid the well being hazards from the railroad.

U.S. District Decide Brian Morris had instructed the jury it might solely discover the railroad negligent based mostly on its actions within the Libby Railyard, not for hauling the vermiculite.

Former Libby resident Invoice Johnston, who adopted the trial, mentioned he was glad the victims’ estates obtained a considerable award.

Johnston, 67, recalled taking part in in piles of vermiculite on the rail yard as a baby and serving to his father add piles of the fabric to their dwelling backyard, the place it was used as a soil modification. He, his two siblings and their dad and mom have all been identified with asbestos-related ailments, Johnston mentioned Monday.

“They didn’t do anything intentionally to cause this harm to their body. Other people knew about it and didn’t care,” he mentioned of Libby asbestos victims. “What’s that worth? It’s hard to put a value on that. But when you say you’re going to die prematurely or the life you have left is going to be tethered to an oxygen bottle, there should be some value that makes their life easier in the end.”

BNSF was fashioned in 1995 from the merger of Burlington Northern railroad, which operated in Libby for many years, and the Santa Fe Pacific Company.

Looming over the proceedings was W.R. Grace, which operated the mountaintop vermiculite mine 7 miles (11 kilometers) outdoors of Libby till it closed in 1990. Morris referred to the chemical firm as “the elephant in the room” through the BNSF trial and reminded jurors repeatedly that the case was concerning the railroad’s conduct, not W.R. Grace’s separate legal responsibility.

Federal prosecutors in 2005 indicted W. R. Grace and executives from the corporate on legal fees over the contamination in Libby. A jury acquitted them following a 2009 trial.

The Environmental Safety Company descended on Libby after 1999 information reviews of diseases and deaths amongst mine staff and their households. In 2009 the company declared in Libby the nation’s first ever public well being emergency underneath the federal Superfund cleanup program.

A second trial towards the railroad over the dying of a Libby resident is scheduled for Could in federal court docket in Missoula.

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