Supreme Court rejects W.R. Grace appeals
June 25, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals by W.R. Grace and six top company executives, getting the case back on track for a court date for trial.
The company and executives were charged with violating the Clean Air Act in February 2005. They are accused of knowingly combining, conspiring, and agreeing among themselves and others to release asbestos into the air, defrauding the U.S. government and agencies responsible for administering laws to protect public health and safety, and conspiring "to conceal and misrepresent the hazardous nature of the tremolite asbestos contaminated vermiculite, thereby enriching defendants and others."
The mine near Libby operated from 1963 to 1990. Vermiculite was sold in products used in potting soils and fertilizers, attic insulation, and as an ingredient in masonry fill. The mineral was found to be contaminated with amphibole "tremolite" asbestos. Vermiculite was sent to a number of processing plants around the country, exposing workers and citizens of other towns to the raw mineral. Insulation tainted with the cancer-causing asbestos was sold and placed in houses across the country, posing a health risk today for anyone who disturbs it through remodeling or demolition. Finished products containing the dangerous asbestos were sold across the country and internationally.
In its appeal to the Supreme Court, Grace argued that the EPA’s definition of asbestos doesn’t cover most of the fibers contaminating the vermiculite from the Libby mine.
The ruling now moves the case back to U.S. District Court in Missoula and ends two years of pretrial delays to consider appeals by the company. The government has argued that the longer the case is delayed, more victims die from mesothelioma, asbestosis and other asbestos-related diseases, whittling down the witnesses that can attend the trial and testify. The next step should be for Judge Donald W. Malloy to set a trial date for the case.
In April, Grace agreed to pay $3 billion to those sickened or killed because of its actions in Libby. W.R. Grace also agreed to pay the U.S. government $250 million to reimburse its investigation and EPA cleanup of asbestos in Libby.
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