UM Grace Case

The case against W.R. Grace and five of its former executives – now excluding William McCaig and Robert Walsh who were recently acquitted – was handed over to the jury Wednesday evening after nearly 10 hours of closing arguments from five separate attorneys. The trial, which began on Feb. 19, has been ongoing for nearly [...]

During the past week, Judge Donald Molloy dismissed two defendants, ruled on two critical motions and revealed a deadline for his ruling on another.
The prosecution said that they didn’t have enough evidence to prove their case against Robert Walsh on April 27 and defendant William McCaig on April 30. Three defendants remain to face the [...]

Government prosecutor Kris McLean requested that defendant William McCaig, one of five W.R. Grace & Co. executives on trial for conspiring to commit environmental crimes, be dismissed from the case Thursday morning. Judge Donald Molloy granted the request, making McCaig the second executive to be released. Robert Walsh was dismissed Monday.
Immediately after the dismissal, [...]

William McCaig, one of four W.R. Grace & Co. executives on trial for conspiring to commit environmental crimes, was dismissed from the case Thursday morning. He is the second executive to be dismissed from the case. Robert Walsh was dismissed Monday. The Grace company, Robert Bettacchi, Henry Eschenbach, and Jack Wolter are still on [...]

Defense attorneys put 4 witnesses on the stand and introduced 14+ exhibits this morning to demonstrate how W.R. Grace acted to reduce dust and asbestos exposure at the Libby mine and mill over the years of its operation by Grace.
First was Randy Geiger, environmental engineer for Grace, who testified to Grace’s continuing and successful efforts [...]

 Defense lawyers spent the latter half of Wednesday morning attempting to disprove that W.R. Grace conspired to conceal the dangerous nature of Libby vermiculite.
Through the questioning of four witnesses, the defense showed that Grace took action to monitor and reduce workplace dust, that company executives weren’t afraid to take their families to the mine, which [...]

Defense attorney Walter Lancaster continued questioning of former W.R. Grace employee Randy Geiger.  Mr. Geiger was in charge of pollution control and conducted air quality sampling at Libby from 1976 to the mid 1980s.  Mr. Lancaster’s questioning focused on how air samples were taken and the results of those tests.  A number of pollution control [...]

The first full day of hearing the defendants’ case began without a ruling on motions to acquit or to dismiss the charges against any individual defendants.
Before the jury entered the room, defense attorney Thomas Frongillo asked  Judge Donald Molloy to clarify his ruling on evidence related to the testimony of Robert Locke, a problematic [...]

After the 3:00 p.m. recess, Kris McLean addressed the indictment of Robert Walsh. McLean conceded that because of some evidentiary rulings the government could not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. McLean moved to have the case against Robert Walsh dismissed with prejudice. As a result of McLean’s motion, Judge Molloy dismissed the case [...]

The government dismissed all charges against Robert C. Walsh Monday afternoon.Walsh is a former vice president of W.R. Grace and one of seven company executives originally indicted on federal charges in 2005.
“With respect to Mr. Walsh,” McLean told Molloy in front of a jam-packed courtroom, “The government can not prove its case without a [...]