As reported by the New York Times, earlier today a federal court jury acquitted W.R. Grace and three of its executives on criminal charges that they had knowingly contaminated the small Montana mining town of Libby with asbestos and conspired to cover it up.

More than 200 people have died of asbestos-related diseases, and hundreds more have been sickened, in Libby, Montana (population 2,600). And there is no doubt that the vermiculite mine, owned and operated by W.R. Grace from 1963 to 1990, was the source of the asbestos.

Nevertheless, the jury — which deliberated for less than two days after a nearly three-month trial — unanimously acquitted the company of criminal culpability.

The acquittal came despite testimony from a former Grace executive, who testified that other Grace executives knew that asbestos was sickening and killing people in Libby and that they actively worked to hide that knowledge or evade responsibility.

The New York Times article can be read here: Chemical Company Is Acquitted in Asbestos Case

Tags: San Francisco Injury Attorney Comments on W.R. Grace Asbestos Case

This entry was posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Legal Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.