MESOTHELIOMA NEWS
Jury selection begins in criminal trial against W.R. Grace & Co. asbestos mine

200 deaths, some by mesothelioma, have been attributed to Grace's asbestos-vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont.

Weitz & Luxenberg has been at the forefront of asbestos litigation since the mid-1980s defending workers’ rights to safe working conditions. The law firm’s Asbestos Litigation Unit has secured more than a billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for those who have fallen ill or for the families of those who have died from the ravages of occupational asbestos exposure.

The following news update on the WR Grace trial, perhaps the biggest environmental criminal trial in the nation’s history, illustrates just how vulnerable workers can be when they put their trust in unscrupulous employers. More than 200 deaths, some by deadly mesothelioma, have been attributed to the company's vermiculite mine.

February 19, 2009 – Jury selection began today in Missoula, Mont. for the long-awaited criminal trial against W.R. Grace & Co. and five company executives charged with knowingly endangering the lives of thousands of people with asbestos-tainted ore from its vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana.

The EPA has called this trial “one of the most significant criminal indictments for environmental crime in our history.”

The case centers on government charges that the mine’s owner, W.R. Grace & Company, and its managers knew as far back as the 1970s that asbestos was geologically mixed into the vermiculite ore at the mine, and that this posed a serious health risk to workers. Grace and the five executives on trial are charged with conspiring to hide these health risks from employees in the interest of making profits. A recent financial statement revealed that Grace’s asbestos earnings haven’t suffered.

Record of Death

Since 1963, when Grace purchased the vermiculite mine, at least 200 deaths and thousands of cases of asbestos-related illness have been attributed to airborne asbestos fibers originating from the mine and the company’s plant facilities in Libby.

Asbestos is an extremely toxic substance that has been linked to several forms of diseases, including lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma.

Grace company workers were not the only victims of asbestos exposure in Libby. Workers’ family members, who never set foot in a factory or a mine, have already died or are currently suffering mortal illnesses from asbestos dust that infiltrated homes on workers’ clothing. According to court papers, workers were denied showering facilities by the company, so as not to alarm employees about the in-house dangers.

Compounding the dangers and multiplying an already burdensome clean-up task for the EPA, W.R. Grace shipped asbestos-tainted vermiculite products (gardening and insulation materials) to warehouses all around the country.

The government’s case

Prosecutors said Grace’s own medical studies of its miners yielded a paper trail that will prove the government’s charges of wire fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Clean Air Act. One manager on trial wrote in a 1982 medical study that, “Our major problem is death from respiratory cancer . . .This is no surprise.”

The five executives being tried are now retired, and all have remained free on their own recognizance while awaiting the criminal trial next week. Jury selection is expected to be completed tomorrow.

If convicted, they face as much as 15 years in prison on each of three counts of endangering Libby through Clean Air Act violations, and lesser time on each of the other charges, plus fines that could amount to several million dollars. Conviction of W.R. Grace & Co., also a defendant, could mean fines of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Time to seek justice!

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 workers diagnosed with mesothelioma and their family members have strong cases in court. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and seek FREE legal guidance and answers to your concerns, please notify us through the communication form on this page. We will pursue your claim with vigilance to help you pay for medical bills, future and past lost wages, and damages. There is no cost to you until we win a settlement or a verdict.