Victims of Libby Asbestos Exposure Take Warren Buffett’s Railroad Company to Court

The town of Libby, Montana, with a population of nearly 3,000 people, is synonymous with asbestos exposure and asbestos-related diseases. A vermiculite mine operated in the town for decades, but the asbestos-contaminated vermiculite led to the town becoming the epicenter of asbestos diseases.

Now, victims of Libby asbestos exposure are taking legal action against one of the companies allegedly involved in that exposure: BNSF Railway, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway parent company.

According to several reports, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against BNSF for allegedly polluting Libby with toxic asbestos dust. The lawsuits allege the Texas-based company was negligent in failing to control clouds of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite dust that spread from the rail yard the company operated and throughout the town of Libby.

The first lawsuit to go to trial was a mesothelioma wrongful death lawsuit filed by two victims who passed away in 2020 due to health conditions related to asbestos exposure. The trial ended last week with verdicts favoring the victims. The jury awarded each of the victim’s families $4 million in compensatory damages, setting a precedent for the other asbestos lawsuits soon to proceed to trial.

 

BNSF Railway’s Connection to Libby Asbestos Exposure

Warren Buffett, an American businessman and investor, co-founded Berkshire Hathaway and serves as the company’s chairman and CEO. He is one of the best-known businessmen and investors in the world, with a current net worth of approximately $133 billion, thanks in part to BNSF Railway being the largest freight railway company in the United States.

BNSF Railway, part of the Berkshire Hathaway empire, was created in 1995 from the merger of two other railroad companies: Burlington Northern Railroad and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. For decades, BNSF Railway and its predecessor companies transferred vermiculite by rail to homes and businesses across the country.

Vermiculite, a naturally occurring mineral, was valued for loose-fill insulation and other uses. Asbestos, another naturally occurring mineral, is often found in similar geographic regions (such as Libby, Montana) and can easily contaminate vermiculite.

Asbestos was valued for durability and resistance to heat, but it can cause several deadly diseases. Mesothelioma, one of those health conditions, is a cancer diagnosed in approximately 2,500 people in the U.S. each year and has a 5-year survival rate below 10%.

 

Shadow of W.R. Grace on BNSF Railway Trial

Mining for vermiculite often led to asbestos exposure for mine workers, along with exposure for the residents of Libby. Many residents have developed mesothelioma due to the environmental asbestos exposure caused by mounds of loose vermiculite that would easily blow through the town and contaminate the oxygen people breathe.

The first asbestos lawsuit against BNSF Railway to go to trial was filed by two families of deceased former Libby residents who both died of mesothelioma. The victims were exposed to asbestos from vermiculite dust that spread from the rail yard. Railway company officials claimed they did not know about the potential of the vermiculite being contaminated with asbestos, instead placing blame at the feet of another company: W.R. Grace.

W.R. Grace owned and operated the Libby mine until its closure in 1990. Federal prosecutors indicted W.R. Grace executives on criminal charges in 2005 for the contamination of the town. Despite their eventual acquittal in 2009, the company has faced civil lawsuits from individuals affected by asbestos-related diseases.

W.R. Grace filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and created an asbestos trust fund to avoid future lawsuits and meet the minimum requirements of compensating future victims of asbestos-related diseases. In 2023, the company proposed a $18.5 million settlement to resolve the state of Montana’s environmental damages claim.

Former BNSF Railway workers claimed during the trial that W.R. Grace employees loaded the train carts with vermiculite and plugged the holes of any cars leaking the mineral. This was part of the strategy to deflect blame to W.R. Grace.

The families’ lawyers claim the actions and negligence of W.R. Grace does not absolve BNSF Railway of responsibility in protecting the town’s residents. The jury agreed, concluding that BNSF Railway was responsible for asbestos-contaminated vermiculite that spilled in the rail yard and spread through Libby.

In 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency began a lengthy project to clean up the contaminated vermiculite in Libby. Ten years later, the EPA declared the effort a public health emergency.

Part of the clean-up work involved excavating the Libby rail yard of contaminated soil. According to an ABC News report, approximately 18,000 tons of contaminated soil was present when work began in 2003. The work to clean up the rail yard concluded in 2020.

A second trial against BNSF Railway over the death of a Libby resident is scheduled for May in a federal court in Missoula, Montana.