W.R. GRACE TRIAL JUDGE:
Asbestos sufferers aren’t victims . . .

Federal judge at W.R. Grace asbestos hearing stuns observers with insensitive remark about asbestos victims.

February 18, 2009 -- The federal judge presiding over the long-awaited asbestos-crimes trial against W.R. Grace & Co. that begins next week in Missoula, Mont., stunned the prosecution and shocked local residents, medical observers and Libby survivors when he said from the bench that "there are no crime victims identifiable" in the case against W.R. Grace & Co.

"That is an outrageous and mind-boggling statement," said Dr. Brad Black, who heads Libby's medical clinic for asbestos victims, which has seen about 2,600 patients. Black subsequently invited Molloy to come see the "unbelievable suffering because of Grace's criminal actions."

It is now common knowledge that more than 400 people from the tiny town of Libby, Mont. have died of asbestos-related disease. Thousands more are showing signs of the disease and many are becoming more and more incapacitated. Grace processed asbestos-laden products in Libby for decades.

"For decades, that company showered Libby with a slow poison, delivered with a full knowledge that the asbestos would sicken or kill a large percentage of our population. If that's not a crime, and these people aren't victims, I don't know what is," said Dr. Black.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, (which, in 1999, first exposed the asbestos health hazards created by W.R. Grace & Co. in a series called “An Uncivil Action”), Grace knew the miners were being exposed to asbestos toxins but didn't tell them.

And because there were no showers or changing facilities at the mine, the deadly fibers were transported to the workers' homes, where the miners' family members were sickened and died. Now, the whole area is so contaminated that residents whose families had no connection to the mine also are getting sick and dying.

The entire town has been declared a Superfund site.

The truth about asbestos

Government sources estimate that in the next decade more than 35,000 people nationwide will be diagnosed with the deadliest form of asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma. This disease is most often the result of industrial workplace exposure to asbestos – and usually contracted through employers’ blatant disregard for the health and safety of their workers.

That’s why people diagnosed with mesothelioma and their family members have strong cases in court. Weitz & Luxenberg has protected the legal rights of workers for 25 years – longer than most law firms in the nation. And in that time the firm's mesothelioma lawyers have won several billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients.

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