UM Grace Case

 Wednesday afternoon’s court proceedings heard the testimony of defense witness Katheryn Coggon, a Denver-based lawyer who worked as outside counsel for W.R. Grace following the EPA’s 104E request for information in 1999.

According to Coggon, a 104E is a process in which the government seeks information from a company related to an ongoing Superfund cleanup. “It’s a government issued request,” Coggon said.

Originally from Havre, Mont., Coggon (maiden name Jarvis) was an all-star track athlete, who won 10 state championships in cross-country in high school during the early 1980s, often racing at the Libby high school track. She now works for the Denver-based law firm Holme Roberts & Owen LLP.

Coggon testified Wednesday that Grace received its first 104E request letter from the EPA on Dec. 7, 1999, and a second just one month later on Jan. 6, 2000, right after Grace got the amendment for the first request.

“[The request was] very significant, thousands of boxes of documents,” Coggon said. Ultimately, the EPA requested roughly 2.5 million documents, which took Grace two years to get together from locations across the country.  

Coggon saw this detailed request as being very unusual. “It looked much more like a discovery request, like what you would see in a civil litigation request,” she said, as if the EPA wanted Grace to “admit that there was a problem.”

Following Bernick’s direct examination, attorney Kevin Cassidy proceeded with the prosecution’s cross-examination. Cassidy mentioned that he and Coggon attended the same law school at Northwestern College of Law at Lewis and Clark College.

“You want to race her?” Molloy asked Cassidy, drawing strong laughs from the courtroom.

Coggon’s testimony concluded at roughly 4 p.m., leaving plenty of time for the defense to address other overriding issues, including the plan for closing arguments and the continuing situation with defendant William McCaig, whose attorney’s are still pushing for his immediate acquittal.

The defense plans to have their side of the case wrapped up by Wednesday of next week. Molloy has still not made a ruling on the Rule 29 motion to dismiss. Court will be in recess until 8:30 Thursday morning, when three more witnesses for the defense are scheduled to take the stand.

– Chris D’Angelo (posted 9:14 p.m.)