The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected without comment the appeals of W.R. Grace and six of its top executives, who have been criminally charged with releasing asbestos-contaminated vermiculite from a mine in Libby, Montana. The decision means the case will now go back to U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy of Missoula for trial. “We are disappointed. We take this seriously,” admitted Greg Euston, a spokesman for W.R. Grace. Trial could begin in late fall in a prosecution that is “one of the most significant cases ever brought under the federal environmental crimes program, ” according to David M. Uhlmann, former chief of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.
Lawyers for W.R. Grace had asked the U.S. Supreme Court in April to review a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that would allow U.S. prosecutors to proceed with many criminal charges against the asbestos manufacturer that had previously been thrown out by the district court. The U.S. government responded by urging the Court to deny W.R. Grace’s request for review, thereby moving prosecutors closer to a trial that has been beset with delays. “There … is a strong … need to prevent any additional, unnecessary delay of the trial,” according to the government’s 30-page brief in opposition. “Some witnesses and many victims … are dying from mesothelioma, asbestosis, and other asbestos-related diseases. We cannot escape the fact that people are sick and dying as a result of this continuing exposure. As time passes, more witnesses will be unavailable to testify, and fewer victims will be able to attend the trial.”
At issue are the government’s charges that that top W.R.Grace executives intentionally concealed the dangers associated with asbestos-contaminated vermiculite mined near Libby, Montana. Asbestos-related disease has now killed more than 200 Libby residents. But W.R. Grace persuaded the district court that it could not be charged with “knowing endangerment” under the federal Clean Air Act because the regulatory definition of asbestos enacted by the Environmental Protection Agency does not include the types of asbestos produced at the Libby facility. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, saw it the government’s way—and ruled that the definition of asbestos applicable to criminal violations is more encompassing than that governing civil claims. Now that the Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal, the Ninth Circuit’s decision will stand and the case against W.R.Grace may proceed in the district court.
Source: W.R. Grace & Co. v. U.S., — S.Ct. —-, 2008 WL 1740074 (2008); W.R. Grace & Co. v. United States of America, 2008 WL 1744742 (U.S. 2008). For more on this story, go to the Missoulian.
