A federal court upheld an $8 million verdict Thursday against BNSF Railway over the deaths of two former residents of Libby, Montana, where asbestos-containing mining material was spilled in a rail yard.

The U.S. District Court for Montana ruled that “no evidence or argument” supports BNSF’s request for a new trial. 

In April, a federal jury awarded $4 million each in compensatory damages to the families of two Libby residents, Thomas E. Wells and Joyce Walder, who lived near the rail yard decades ago when BNSF was still transporting asbestos-laced vermiculite from the Grace & Co.-operated mine near the town. Wells and Walder died in 2020 of mesothelioma, a deadly form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure.  

The jury determined that BNSF did not act intentionally or with malice, so no punitive damages were awarded to the families.

Wells and Walder are among hundreds of Libby residents who died from asbestos-related diseases. They are the first to be awarded damages from BNSF. 

The company filed a motion for a new trial, claiming the court erred in how it determined BNSF’s handling of asbestos amounted to an abnormally dangerous activity.  

However, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris stated in his ruling that the railway did not have the grounds to present that argument because it failed to show the verdict was contrary to the clear weight of the evidence or based upon false or perjurious evidence. BNSF also was not able to demonstrate that the verdict was a miscarriage of justice, according to Morris.

How Libby Became an Asbestos Disaster Area

Grace & Co., a Texas-based chemical company, owned the Libby mine from 1963 until it closed it in 1990. The vermiculite from the mine was transported all over the country to be used for residential and commercial insulation. Vermiculite asbestos insulation was popular from the mid-to late-1900s because of its heat-resistant properties. 

In 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency began investigating due to reports of mine employees in the town and their family members becoming ill or dying.

But miners and their loved ones weren’t the only victims. Libby residents say vermiculite was stored in the rail yard and dust from the site used to blow through downtown. Tainted vermiculite was used to build the high school track. Some families even added the material to their gardens as a soil supplement, not realizing it was potentially lethal for humans. 

Grace & Co. filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and paid $1.8 million to settle future asbestos claims against it. 

In 2009, the EPA declared Libby the first public emergency site under the Superfund hazardous materials cleanup program. However, due to the long latency period for mesothelioma, residents continue to be diagnosed with the disease decades after being exposed to asbestos.