Montana is a sparsely populated agrarian state where the few standard high risk asbestos exposure work sites such as power plants and oil refineries did little damage. However there are two mines in the state where asbestos exposure became a major problem. The Anaconda copper mines and smelters in Montana were high risk locations for asbestos and arsenic exposure. The federal government has been involved in cleanup operations with Anaconda sites for years.
Perhaps the most notorious job site for asbestos exposure in the nation’s history is the W.R. Grace vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana. This mine was opened in the 1920s and operated until 1993 mining asbestos contaminated vermiculite. The W.R. Grace company acquired the mine in 1963 and continued to operate both the mine and an adjoining mill until final closure, despite years of warnings about the health impacts of these operations. The result in Libby has been tragic: out of a population of 2,600 some two hundred had died from an asbestos related disease as of March 2009 and another 1,000 are believed to be sick. The federal government has called it, “The worst case of industrial poisoning of a whole community in American history.”
Mesothelioma Deaths in Montana
Montana recorded between 162 and 404 asbestos related deaths between 1979 and 2000, according to a private survey. The federal government has been monitoring malignant mesothelioma deaths in the U.S. since 1999 and in 2005 issued a report showing 83 such deaths in Montana between 1999 and 2005 alone. Mortality from asbestosis in Libby during the period 1978 – 1998 was 40-60 times the national average according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Legal Rights of Mesothelioma Victims in Montana
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality regulates asbestos abatement, control and abatement licensing in the state. Montana laws regarding personal injury are complicated, which is why retaining an experienced Montana mesothelioma lawyer is important if you have been affected by exposure. A Montana resident who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos related disease has three years from the date of diagnosis to file a personal injury or product liability suit. Those who have lost a family member to asbestos have three years from the date of death to file a wrongful death action.
Montana follows a modified joint and several liability format that apportions fiscal liability based on percentage of fault in an injury or harm case. If a defendant is over 50% responsible they may be held liable for the entire amount. The state also has a modified comparative negligence rule, meaning that a plaintiff may collect damages only if he or she is found to be less than 50% personally responsible for the damage done.
Asbestos Lawsuits in Montana
W.R. Grace filed for bankruptcy in 2001, at which time they faced close to 100,000 asbestos lawsuits. A small percentage of those were filed by Montana residents, but Grace, Anaconda, Chevron and several other firms continue to see legal activity in the Montana courts or in federal court over asbestos exposure that occurred in Montana. Read more about how to to find the right Asbestos lawyer as well as recent Mesothelioma case settlements in addition to lawsuits for Mesothelioma.
