Court Approves $43 Million Montana Asbestos Settlement

A Montana judge has approved a $43 million settlement for people sickened by exposure toasbestos from a mine, with a large part of that amount to be paid by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, court documents show.

$43 Million Settlement for Residents

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed against Montana over asbestos exposure at a W.R. Grace mine. Former miners and their families had accused the state of failing to properly oversee the mine or warn workers of dangers there.

The mine in Libby, Montana, produced vermiculite, used for home insulation, potting soil conditioner and absorbent packing material.

More than 70 percent of the vermiculite used in the country over eight decades camefromLibby — and it was all contaminated by asbestos deposits in the same mine, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Miners originally sued W.R. Grace over their exposure to asbestos, but after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 the workers sued the state for failing to adequately protect them, according to court documents.
About 1,400 people will receive payouts from the settlement approved Sept. 8 by MontanaDistrict Court Judge Jeffrey M. Sherlock, ending a decade-long legal battle.

The deal ends numerous cases and claims against Montana “but expressly reserves their claims against all other responsible parties,” according to the agreement.



Many of the victims of asbestos exposure from the Libby mine are now over 65, and others have since died of asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis and cancers likemesothelioma, records show.

Because of the decades-long latency associated with asbestos-related diseases, people continue to be diagnosed decades after the mine closed, according to federal health officials.

Montana officials conducted inspections of the mine in the 1950s and later years, but despite knowing the risk to miners from asbestos dust, the state did not adequately warnworkers of those dangers, the Montana Supreme Court found in 2004.

To cover the $43 million settlement, the state of Montana is using $26.8 million out of its self-insurance fund.

Montana’s insurers, National Indemnity, Berkshire’s reinsurance unit, and MontanaInsurance Guaranty Association will pay $16.1 million and $100,000 respectively, according to court documents.

Warren Buffet’s Berkshire has been active in taking over asbestos obligations frominsurance companies in exchange for huge up-front premiums.

Payments for victims range from $500 to nearly $61,000 each, legal records show.


In a separate order on Sept. 8, Sherlock ordered one-third — or $14.3 million — to be paid out of the $43 million to attorneys for the victims, who worked on contingency.

The W.R. Grace mine in Libby closed in 1990.

In 2008, the company agreed to set up a trust fund to pay victims’ health claims.

Attorneys for the victims and for Montana did not respond to requests for comment.

Record $190M Awarded in Asbestos Lawsuit

A good asbestos verdict associated with $190 mil continues to be granted inside a lawsuit through 5 men who were subjected to asbestos-tainted companies products throughout their work opportunities as steamfitters, plumbers, plus building employees.

The panel of recent Supreme Courtroom jurors discovered the two accused businesses experienced served negligently plus carelessly, after that rendering the verdict really worth an overall total associated with $190 mil, the biggest combined asbestos verdict within New York background. It really is believed that this $60 mil person quantities 2 from the men obtained would be the biggest person amounts granted inside a New York asbestos situation.


Daniel Blouin, a lawyer along with Weitz and Luxenberg, the particular company symbolizing the particular injured parties, said he great group undertaken the situation simply by informing the particular court a tale associated with 5 men just who worked honest work opportunities for many years simply to be paid back along with immense struggling. “We wanted to display the particular court the particular sadness our customers had been and so are going through, ” Blouin said. “And not only in physical form yet mentally. When you are subjected to asbestos plus create mesothelioma, you understand your own destiny. It is a good unbearably heavy problem. ”

Attorneys for the injured parties informed the particular court presently there was not a sum they could provide the men that might be unreasonable. The particular defendants in this case exposed a large number of women and men to some awfully toxic element. Chances are the businesses required the calculated danger within doing this. That will is not the financial debt which can be paid back, the particular lawyers said.

The particular court, coming back the verdict on four p. m. upon July twenty three, discovered each defendants – boiler businesses Cleaver Brooks plus Burnham – at fault within getting did not alert concerning the risks from the asbestos utilized in reference to their products. The particular verdict said each businesses experienced served along with careless overlook for the purpose of human lifetime.



All 5 from the injured parties had been trades-people from your tri-state region.

1 guy, through Toms River, NJ-NEW JERSEY, worked within the 50s plus sixties like a pipefitter within the Brooklyn Navy blue Yard. He was subjected to asbestos every day whilst fitted pipes into the salt-water distilling systems on-board plane carriers such as the USS Constellation plus USS Self-reliance.

Another, through Oyster These types of, NY, worked for almost 3 decades like a plumber, handling dozens of various kinds of items polluted along with asbestos.

A third, associated with Center Village, NY, seemed to be subjected to asbestos working like a plumber within Brooklyn, A queen, plus Rockland Company.

Another guy, through Howard Seaside, NY, was subjected to asbestos at work like a artist plus building employee. He was associated with the particular elimination plus demolition associated with central heating boiler that contains asbestos-laden components.

The final customer, through Kent, CN, furthermore worked with central heating boiler plus boiler components in the course of their work like a steamfitter.

All 5 men created mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure. 3 have passed away associated with problems associated with the condition.