The Center for Asbestos Related Disease, or CARD, Clinic diagnoses locals that were exposed to the toxic mineral from a now closed vermiculite mine.
The clinic was shuttered last week when the Lincoln County Sheriff seized all of its property to settle a court judgment.
BNSF Railway sued the clinic in 2023. It claimed the clinic has erroneously diagnosed patients with asbestos related diseases, allowing them to receive Medicare benefits they weren’t entitled to.
The railway sued under a legal provision that allowed it to bring the civil suit on behalf of the federal government. It could only do so after federal officials declined to take the case.
BNSF won and is entitled to some of the roughly $6 million judgment awarded to the federal government.
But Montana U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme’s office is defending the clinic in court. It said BNSF improperly tried to collect money on behalf of the federal government. Alme’s office also argued that because CARD receives federal funding, the Lincoln County District Court and BNSF have no legal authority to seize property the federal government has a financial stake in.
Alme is asking the court to return the property to CARD.
