The criminal case against W.R. Grace & Co. is certainly turning out to be a nail-biter. One of the most significant court cases ever to land in Missoula, it has been rife with legal twists and turns that continue to keep us hanging in suspense - and the actual trial hasn't even started yet.
It follows on the heels of another lawsuit that ultimately ended with an order for Grace to pay $54.5 million for asbestos cleanup in Libby. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency originally filed that suit in 2001, but the district court's ruling was appealed - and upheld - all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and wasn't settled until 2006.
The federal government brought its criminal suit in 2005 with an indictment accusing Grace and some of its former executives of knowingly endangering the workers at its vermiculite mine in Libby and conspiring to keep their knowledge a secret.
Studies have shown that the vermiculite was contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos fibers. One federal study in particular has found that more than 1,200 in the Libby community have lung abnormalities linked to asbestos from the mine. This count includes not only the people who once worked for Grace, but their families and friends as well. Many of them have already died from asbestos-related diseases.
W.R. Grace shut down the mine for good in 1990, and declared bankruptcy in 2001 under a barrage of asbestos-related civil lawsuits.
Given all those lawsuits and the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, it's no longer a simple matter to trace the thread of pre-trial arguments, decisions and appeals, each of which has had to be hammered out in court before the central case could inch closer to trial. As the plot grows thicker, the march to trial slows considerably.
The most recent development in the criminal trial saw Grace's defense arguing that government prosecutors waited too long to file charges, that certain witnesses should not be allowed to testify at trial and that certain environmental health studies shouldn't be made available to expert witnesses. Chief U.S. District Judge Don Molloy ruled in favor of those arguments, prosecutors appealed and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal overturned Molloy's ruling. Grace then petitioned for a rehearing, which was denied.
Federal prosecutors are pleased with this most recent turn of events, even as they brace for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. There's always the possibility that yet another argument will bring the process to a standstill while it, too, winds its way through the court system.
The upshot of all this legal wrangling is that each new decision helps to hammer out any kinks that might have tied the case up further down the road or led to a watered-down outcome. It certainly would have been a shame to let the case go to trial devoid of its most pivotal charges.
Both the prosecution and the defense are right to make sure they are dealt a fair hand and allowed to take their strongest arguments and evidence to trial. In fact, that guarantee will make the ultimate decision all the more binding.
All the same, there's a good reason for the old saying that justice delayed is justice denied.
Monday, Jan. 21, marked the first anniversary of the death of Les Skramstad, a devoted activist who dedicated the last years of his life to fighting Grace. Skramstad suffered from mesothelioma, a particularly aggressive type of cancer that attacks the lining of the abdominal organs.
Shortly after his death, the former general manager for the Libby mine, Alan String, also died of cancer. Stringer had been among the former executives charged in the 2005 indictment.
The trial is not expected to resume for several more months. Hopefully, it meets with no further delays. A final victory - either for the people of Libby or for W.R. Grace - would be hollow indeed if justice simply slips through the hourglass.
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