Appeals court upholds libby asbestos ruling

Montana â€" A federal appeals court has ruled that U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy’s request for a pretrial list of witnesses and evidentiary documents from the government is not an abuse of the Judge’s discretion. The request was made in connection to the government’s asbestos case against W.R. Grace & Co. and involves public asbestos exposure in Libby, Montana, where the company once operated a vermiculite mine. The vermiculite mine turned out to be contaminated with asbestos, and as a result more than two hundred Libby residentsâ€"including people who never worked at the vermiculite mineâ€"have died from asbestos-related diseases, and almost two thousand residents have been diagnosed. W.R. Grace & Co. was indicted in 2005 on charges of conspiring to conceal the health risks of the Libby mine and its asbestos-contaminated vermiculite for residents of the town. In March 2005, Judge Molloy set a discovery schedule for the case, giving the government approximately six months to create a final list of the witnesses and exhibits it planned to use in the trial. The government was able to meet the six month deadline, but said it would continue its investigation and “reserved the right to update its witness list and exhibit list through the close of all evidence at trial.” The defense subsequently became concerned about the government’s witness list, the size of which continued to increase long after the six month period. In response Judge Molloy entered an order in December 2005 to limit the government’s pretrial list to “those witnesses that have been disclosed as of the filing of this order.” Upon appealing the ruling, the government argued that the judge did not have the authority to either require or enforce the pretrial list. In addition, the government said that even if he did have the authority, the orders were an abuse of the judge’s discretion. In July 2007, a panel of three 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals judges agreed, and said that the district court had stepped outside the bounds of its authority. However, W.R. Grace & Co. asked for a review by a larger panel of judges. The new panel issued their opinion this week, and upheld the orders issued by Judge Molloy. In making the ruling, the panel said, “We hold that the District Court did have the authority to issue and enforce its pretrial orders compelling the government to disclose its witness list and did not abuse its discretion in doing so.” Neither the government nor W.R. Grace & Co. has so far commented on the new ruling. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)