Central Montana Times

Over 800 past employees of W.R. Grace's Zonolite Division are able to file asbestos-related personal injury claims, as ruled by the Montana Supreme Court, against Maryland Casualty Company. 

From 1963 to 1973, Maryland Causality provided workers' compensation to W.R. Grace's Zonolite, according to the Western News. Justice Ingrid Gustafson said in her ruling that the company was also part of W.R. Grace's plan to conceal the “known asbestos risk and worker injuries from workers” at the Libby, Montana, operations, which “caused increased or prolonged exposure to asbestos, thereby increasing the risk of harm to workers beyond the pre-existing risk created by Grace.”

The Zonolite Company conducted vermiculite mining and processing operations in Libby until 1990, according to the Western News. Many current and former residents are afflicted from the asbestos-laden dust and vermiculite that was used in Libby. 

The Montana Supreme Court has decided that Maryland Causality can be held responsible for asbestos-related damages, a conclusion that the Montana Asbestos Court came to in 2017 as well, according to the report. In the 2017 case, Maryland Casualty appealed to the Montana Supreme Court. 

The plaintiff in that case was Ralph Hutt, a former employee of W.R. Grace from 1968 to 1969, that worked in a mountainside mill and operated equipment near a waste dump, court records said. 

Hutt said his work gave him asbestos-related lung disease which couldn't be cured, court records show. 

Hutt's lawyer, Allan McGarvey, with the Kalispell firm of McGarvey, Heberling, Sullivan and Lacey, said in an email, “We are gratified to see that the court unanimously recognized that Maryland Casualty Company (MCC) owed a duty to warn...Moreover, the majority opinion further recognizes that ‘MCC was not merely negligent in its failure to act; rather, in strategically recognizing the latency period for asbestosis to develop, MCC engaged in affirmative actions to conceal the asbestos exposure risk and worker injuries to avoid liability, effectively increasing the risk of additional harm to Mill workers from further asbestos exposure.’”

Maryland Casualty said it had no legal responsibility of warning workers of the hazards, according to the Western News. The company said it was W.R. Grace's responsibility to give out warnings. 

But the Montana Supreme Court ruled that Maryland Casualty was liable as well, the Western News reported. 

The court's ruling said, “There is no indication that Grace or [Maryland Casualty] ever informed the workers that the dust contained asbestos, asbestos was dangerous and workers were suffering lung ailments because of it.”

Asbestos fibers can be dangerous if they embed in lung tissue, which can lead to deadly lung disease such as asbestosis, according to the Western News. 

McGarvey, Heberling, Sullivan and Lacey told the Western News they are representing approximately 2,000 plaintiffs with asbestos-related claims.