"Mont. asbestos case is settled for $43m" Associated Press / September 17, 2011
BILLINGS, Mont. - A judge has approved a $43 million settlement for more than a thousand asbestos victims who said the state of Montana failed to warn residents of the city of Libby of the dangers of a nearby vermiculite mine....
An estimated 400 people have been killed and 1,750 sickened by asbestos released from a W.R. Grace & Co. mine outside Libby that closed more than two decades ago.
Lethal dust from the mine once blanketed the small community of 3,000. Cleanup continues at a cost to date topping $370 million.
The majority of the claimants are now age 65 or older.
The settlement stems from multiple lawsuits brought against Montana agencies for failing to protect victims in Libby. The state originally claimed in its defense that it had no legal obligation to provide warning of the mine’s dangers....
Then what good are you? If you are not going to protect our health then you are good for nothing.
Most of Libby’s victims never worked in the mine but were sickened after family members brought mine dust home on their clothing or after spending their childhood playing among mine waste in the town.
In 2004, the Montana Supreme Court said the state should have warned miners about health hazards identified by state officials in Libby as early as the 1950s.
W.R. Grace escaped much of its liability for the contamination when it filed for bankruptcy after the extent of the public health crisis in Libby was revealed....
It's a corporate government.
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