A federal jury has ruled that BNSF Railway contributed to the deaths of two people who were exposed to asbestos decades ago when contaminated mining material was shipped through the Montana town of Libby. The jury on Monday awarded $4 million each in compensatory damages to the estates of the two plaintiffs, who died in 2020.
Jurors said asbestos-contaminated vermiculite that spilled in the rail yard in Libby was a substantial factor in the plaintiffs’ illnesses and death. Family members of the two victims hugged after the verdict was announced, and attorneys for the plaintiffs said the ruling brought some accountability.
The jury did not find that BNSF acted intentionally or with indifference, so no punitive damages were awarded. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. acquired BNSF in 2010, two decades after the W.R. Grace & Co. vermiculite mine near Libby shut down and stopped shipping the contaminated product.
The pollution in Libby has been cleaned up, largely at public expense. Yet the long time frame over which asbestos-related diseases develop means people previously exposed are likely to continue getting sick for years to come, health officials say.
Attorneys for the estates of the two victims — Joyce Walder and Thomas Wells — had argued that the railroad knew the asbestos-tainted vermiculite was dangerous but failed to act. Both died from mesothelioma, a rare lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure.
The case in federal civil court over the two deaths was the first of numerous lawsuits against the Texas-based railroad corporation to reach trial over its past operations in Libby. Current and former residents of the small town near the U.S.-Canada border want BNSF held accountable, accusing it of playing a role in asbestos exposure that health officials say has killed several hundred people and sickened thousands.
“This is good news. This is the first community exposure case that will hold the railroad accountable for what they’ve done,” said Mark Lanier, an attorney for Walder and Hemphill’s estates.
BNSF attorney Chad Knight declined to comment after the verdict. He told jurors last week the railroad’s employees didn’t know the vermiculite was filled with hazardous microscopic asbestos fibers.
“In the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s no one in the public suspected there might be health concerns,” Knight said Friday.
The railroad’s experts also suggested during the trial that the plaintiffs could have been exposed to asbestos elsewhere.
