W.R. Grace Asbestos Trial Finishes First Week
The week marked the beginning of the high-profile trial against W.R. Grace & Co. and five of their executives. Grace is charged with federal conspiracy of knowingly exposing their workers and residents in Libby, Montana to asbestos, a toxic substance known to cause fatal diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis. They are also charged with obstruction of justice by misleading or withholding information from and denying access to the Environmental Protection agency, hindering efforts to investigate and perform emergency clean up.
Lawyers for the asbestos victims ended the first week of trial with a ruling in their favor. Attorneys for Grace had requested that the presiding judge Donald Molloy keep 36 asbestos exposure victims, who will be testifying at trial, from being able to attend and observe the trial proceedings. Defendants stated they were concerned that if the victims observed the trial it might bias their testimony. Prosecutors claimed that the asbestos victims were “crime victims” and therefore should be allowed to observe the trial just as any other victim who was harmed as a result of a federal offense.
Judge Molloy ruled that the victims did not qualify as crime victims under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act and should be excluded. Attorneys for the asbestos victims appealed his decision, and today judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Molloy’s decision and ordered him to make “particularized findings with respect to each of the 34 victim-witnesses.”
On Monday, the trial will continue with expert witness testimony from EPA’s Paul Peronard, the former on-site manager of the cleanup in Libby. The next witness expected to testify is Dr. Alan Whitehouse, a pulmonary expert from Spokane. Whitehouse states that the particular type of asbestos, tremolite, found in the Libby vermiculite ore, is particularly toxic and causes progressive types of lung disorders, such as mesothelioma, that most often lead to death shortly after diagnosis. Higher rates of asbestos-related malignancies and deaths have been reported in residents throughout the Libby area.
For more details about the first days of the trial, read our article W.R. Grace & Co. Asbestos Trial Continues on our website that also talks about how to find the most experienced and caring mesothelioma lawyers, treatment options for those diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis or lung cancer, and other current asbestos related news. The Missoulian newspaper also has a website dedicated to keeping updates fo the trial: http://missoulian.com/wrgrace/index.php
