Elinor Smith For decades, Libby residents have lived with the deadly aftermath of asbestos exposure from a closed vermiculite mine. It contaminated the local baseball fields where kids played, it was in gardens, and it insulated homes. Hundreds have died from asbestos-related diseases. Two families were awarded damages from BNSF Railway in 2024. Now the railway is appealing that decision, saying it's not liable for those deaths.
Montana Free Press's Mara Silvers has been following the lawsuit. Mara, thank you so much for being here today.
Mara Silvers Yeah, thanks for having me.
Mara Silvers To start out, can you introduce us to Joyce Walder and Thomas Wells? Who are they and why are they at the center of this case?
Mara Silvers So, Joyce Walder and Thomas Wells are the two deceased plaintiffs who are represented in this case now by their family members. And both of them lived at some point near the rail yard in downtown Libby that is owned and operated by BNSF still to this day. And their attorneys made a case when they filed this lawsuit in 2021 that the exposure that both of those plaintiffs got from the dust kicked up from the railyard by passing cars was the reason why they eventually became diagnosed with mesothelioma, which is an asbestos linked lung cancer.
Elinor Smith And so the estates of Walder and Wells, what are they suing for in this circumstance?
Mara Silvers The attorneys on this case have argued that BNSF Railway is strictly liable. That means that they are responsible for the harms caused by contamination from that rail yard, even if they didn't intend to contaminate it or even if they didn't intend to cause harm. So a jury in 2024 agreed with that argument. They said that BNSF was strictly liable for the contamination at that site. But members of the jury also found that BNSF was not negligent. The evidence that was presented at trial didn't convince them that BNSF had acted recklessly or had failed in its duties in any way, because BNSF strongly argues that ... The company did not know that asbestos that was in these vermiculite products was toxic at the time that they were transporting these materials. So the decision from the jury was a little mixed in that regard, but they did ultimately decide to award the estates of Wells and Walder $4 million each for the wrongful deaths of these two plaintiffs.
Elinor Smith So now BNSF is appealing that decision, saying they're not liable for those deaths. Why are they appealing?
Mara Silvers Really, this question of strict liability that is at issue here. And railroads like BNSF have a lot of federal protections from strict liability for the materials that they transport. BNSF is what's called a common carrier, which means it can't discriminate against the types of goods that it transports across state lines. In exchange for that, the company is protected from lawsuits for anything that goes wrong with those materials, like any kind of spills or derailments or contaminations.
So what's interesting about this case is that the plaintiffs are essentially arguing that those transportation protections don't apply to the rail yard itself, because the contamination there was building up for decades long after trains left the station, so to speak.
But BNSF is really pushing back against that because they're saying that everything that happened on that rail yard is part of its overall transportation duties. And if suddenly that rail yard is exempted from its federal protections, it it would start to have to change a lot of its protocols and its workflows, which the company says would interfere with its duties as a common carrier.
Elinor Smith So looping back to the estates of Wells and Walder, what does this decision mean for those families?
Mara Silvers Ultimately, the families of of both of these plaintiffs acknowledge that the court system at this point is pretty out of their hands and they don't know where this case is going to go. Of course, there's also the option, whatever happens at the Ninth Circuit, that the case could be appealed even higher to the U.S. Supreme Court. When I've talked to both of these plaintiffs' family members, they've said that they hope for some resolution that means more for the people of Libby in general and not just their two families. For them, it's the difference between, you know, an $8 million total verdict, $4 million for each family, or potentially nothing. But they also know that this case is a bit of a harbinger for what could come for other victims and and families that have passed through Libby.
Elinor Smith All right. Well, Mara, if MTPR listeners want to read more of your reporting about this lawsuit now or in the future, where can they find it?
Mara Silvers Yeah, all of our reporting about this case and anything else related to to the town of Libby and to asbestos cases can be found at our website, which is
montanafreepress.org.
Elinor Smith Amazing. Well, thank you so much for being here today, Mara. I appreciate it.
Mara Silvers Thank you so much for the time.
