UM Grace Case

After a week-long break, the W.R. Grace trial resumed at a fast pace on Wednesday, April 8. The three days of court saw discussion of past witness Robert Locke’s potential perjury, a procession of government witnesses, and direct criticism of the government’s methods by Judge Donald Molloy.
Before one juror entered the courtroom on Wednesday, [...]

 Steve Venuti was back on the witness stand for cross-examination after the morning recess. The tenor of cross-examination between Venuti and defense counsel was in stark contrast to the adversarial and antagonistic cross-examination of the government’s last witness, Robert Locke.
Setting aside a prior disagreement about hazard evaluation and judgment, Venuti seemed to agree again and [...]

 According to defense attorney David Bernick, W.R. Grace has always been a good dancing partner for the government: always following the government’s lead and never more than a step behind.
The defense finished its cross-examination of industrial hygienist and former Grace toxicology coordinator Steve Venuti Thursday morning by trying to show that as government regulations changed [...]

“There is nothing to hide here,” defense attorney Bernick asserted as he cross-examined witness Steve Venuti.  The cross-examination focused on using Venuti to show that not only was W.R. Grace complying with all OSHA regulations, the company was actually “ahead of the curve.”
In 1977, W.R. Grace was sending out Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) to [...]

W.R. Grace used data sheets to warn of asbestos content in its industrial products before government regulations required them to do so, Grace defense attorney David Bernick said during his morning cross-examination of Steve Venuti, an industrial hygienist and former toxicology coordinator for Grace.
Bernick built up his cross-examination to show that Grace began using [...]

Defense attorney David Bernick began his cross-examination of industrial hygienist and former toxicology coordinator for W.R. Grace, Steve Venuti, this afternoon following Judge Donold Molloy’s frank and stern discussion with the prosecution about its failure to prove its case so far.
After the jury  filed back into the courtroom, oblivious to the dramatic conversation that [...]

Court reconvened this morning with Judge Molloy hearing argument from defense attorney Bernick as to why Locke’s testimony should not be allowed to continue and the government should not be allowed redirect of Locke. Molloy reserved judgment on the issue until more argument is heard, although he had an order prepared striking all of Locke’s [...]

 Static crackling through the court sound system brought to a premature close questioning of Steve Venuti by the prosecution. Venuti is an industrial hygienist and was a toxicology coordinator for W.R. Grace back in the 1980s.
Government prosecutor Kris McLean attempted to introduce one long document containing eight internal Grace letters written between 1987 and 1988. However, the [...]

It is still up in the air whether Robert Locke’s testimony will be allowed to stand. Judge Donald Molloy explained Wednesday morning that he will put off ruling on whether the testimony should be stricken, a request made in the face of allegations that Locke perjured himself on the witness stand. Molloy had stern [...]