BNSF Railway says it didn't know about asbestos that's killed hundreds in Montana town

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News/AP

April 19, 2024, 4:42 AM EDT


HELENA, Mont. — BNSF Railway attorneys are expected to argue before jurors Friday that the railroad should not be held liable for the lung cancer deaths of two former residents of an asbestos-contaminated Montana town, one of the deadliest sites in the federal Superfund pollution program.

Attorneys for the Warren Buffett-owned company say the railroad’s corporate predecessors didn’t know the vermiculite it hauled over decades from a nearby mine was filled with hazardous microscopic asbestos fibers.

The case in federal civil court over the two deaths is the first of numerous lawsuits against the Texas-based railroad corporation to reach trial over its past operations in Libby, Montana. Current and former residents of the small town near the U.S.-Canada border want BNSF held accountable for its alleged role in asbestos exposure that health officials say has killed several hundred people and sickened thousands.

Looming over the proceedings is W.R. Grace & Co., a chemical company that operated a mountaintop vermiculite mine 7 miles (11 kilometers) outside of Libby until it was closed 1990. The Maryland-based company played a central role in Libby’s tragedy and has paid significant settlements to victims. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris has referred to the mining company as “the elephant in the room” in the BNSF trial. He reminded jurors several times that the case was about the railroad’s conduct, not W.R. Grace’s separate liability.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bnsf-railway-says-didnt-know-asbestos-s-killed-hundreds-montana-town-rcna148517

[Bayard]

1. Vermiculite

I didn't know that was used for anything besides a garden soil amendment.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Yup

Especially since it was lightweight, flaky and fluffy. But where much of it sold for consumers was mined, it was contaminated by nearby asbestos in the rock, and in some cases, it was actually mixed with asbestos to use for insulation for decades (at least until 30-some years ago and no more for that).

https://www.epa.gov/asbestos/what-vermiculite

Current bagged vermiculite is coming out of generally non-contaminated mines.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. August 2023: BNSF beats wrongful death suit over workplace exposure to toxins

BNSF beats wrongful death suit over workplace exposure to toxins
Bloomberg Law
August 3, 2023

• Causation expert’s opinion lacked reliable foundation
• Expert thought exposure to asbestos, diesel fumes was shown

BNSF Railway Co. defeated a wrongful death suit brought by the widow of an employee who says her late husband’s cancer was caused by exposure to workplace toxins. ... Rebecca Lancaster brought a claim under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, alleging that her husband James’ cancer was caused by his exposure to diesel exhaust, silica dust, and asbestos at work.

A federal trial court properly dismissed the suit because she failed to establish causation, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said in an opinion by Judge Jonathan A. Kobes. ... The US District Court for the District of Nebraska didn’t abuse its discretion when it excluded Lancaster’s expert witness, Ernest Chiodo, a certified industrial hygienist who was supposed to give an opinion that the alleged exposures caused James’s cancer, Kobes said Wednesday.

The trial court found Chiodo’s opinion lacked a reliable foundation because it was based on a misunderstanding of the report of another expert witness, certified industrial hygienist Neil Zimmerman, Kobes said. ... Chiodo thought that Zimmerman’s report concluded that James was exposed to above-background rates of asbestos, diesel exhaust, and silica dust, Kobes said. But Zimmerman “only opined that James had above-background exposure to silica dust and that James had the potential for exposures to diesel combustion fumes and asbestos,” he said.

There is no direct evidence that James was exposed to asbestos or diesel combustion fumes, Kobes said. As a result, Chiodo’s opinion was “speculative at most,” he said. ... James Lancaster worked for BNSF as a trackman and later a track foreman for 33 years. In 2016, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died less than two years later. ... Judges Bobby E. Shepherd and David R. Stras joined in the opinion. ... Marc J. Bern & Partners LLP and Jonathan Sternberg, Attorney PC represent Lancaster. Hall & Evans LLC, Landmark Law PLLC, and Reifers Holmes & Peters LLC represent BNSF. ... The case is Lancaster v. BNSF Ry. Co., 2023 BL 264813, 8th Cir., No. 21-3366, 8/2/23.