UM Grace Case

Kris McLean conceded what has been pounded home throughout the trial: It was no secret to the government that there was asbestos at the Libby mine or that asbestos was carcinogenic.  “The secret was in the products,” he said Wednesday.
One secret in this case, McLean said, was what only defendant W.R. Grace knew: “Despite reducing [...]

Thursday afternoon continued following afternoon recess with David Bernick continuing his examination of Dr. Suresh H. Moolgavkar, an epidemiologist and bio-statistician from Bellevue, Washington.
Dr. Moolgavkar testified that EPA estimates overestimate the risk of lung cancer associated with exposure to Libby asbestos and that any accurate risk assessment should have been based on Libby-specific data. [...]

Following the afternoon recess, Bernick resumed his cross of Lockey, attempting to undermine his testimony on direct. He began the cross by attempting to show that the correlation between dosages and diseases may not be as significant as Lockey, or the prosecution, would have the jury and/or public believe. The entire cross-examination consisted largely of [...]

 Physician James Lockey testified Wednesday afternoon about a pair of studies examining symptoms of asbestos exposure in workers at an O.M. Scott plant in Marysville, Ohio.  The plant used Libby vermiculite in its gardening products.  Under direct examination from prosecutor Kris McLean, Lockey testified that some of the workers suffered localized plaques, diffuse thickening and [...]

 When the Owens family bought 3,600 acres next door to W.R. Grace’s vermiculite mine in 1994, they got a lot more than just the timber they wanted to harvest. They got veins of asbestos in the ground, regular visits from government agencies and their very own air quality tests.
The Owens family formed the Kootenai Development [...]