Supreme Court Rejects W.R. Grace Appeals

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals by W.R. Grace and six of its executives charged with violating the Clean Air Act. The ruling moves the case back to U.S. District Court where it may now proceed to trial.

In February 2005, the government indicted seven W.R. Grace executives on charges of violating the Clean Air Act. The government alleged that officials knowingly endangered the lives of miners and Libby residents by continuing to operate the town's vermiculite mine despite knowledge of the dangers of asbestos.

After the indictment, lawyers for Grace filed an appeal arguing that the EPA's definition of asbestos did not cover most of the fibers that contaminated the vermiculite. U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy agreed and issued a decision in August 2006 that nullified much of the government's case.

The government's case seemed to fall apart after Molloy ruled the government could not bring "knowing endangerment" charges which carry up to 15 year prisons terms for each charge. In addition he barred the prosecution from calling on certain witnesses and banned crucial documents on the health impact of asbestos exposure.

All of those decisions were later overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In April Grace took the case to the Supreme Court but the court refused to hear their case and it is now expected to go to trial in the late fall or early winter.

Asbestos related diseases have now claimed the lives of 300 to 400 residents and sickened hundreds more in the small Montana town. A key component of the government's 30-page brief to the Supreme Court was that if the case continues to drag on, the number of potential witnesses will steadily decrease as they are dying from the affects of asbestos exposure. In fact one of the executives charged in the initial indictment, Alan Stringer has already perished (his death was not related to asbestos exposure).

2008 has seen a number of major legal developments involving W.R. Grace. In April the company agreed to provide $3 billion to settle lawsuits brought by those sickened or killed by asbestos exposure and earlier agreed to pay the government $250 million to reimburse cleanup costs for Superfund sites across the United States.