Court Supports Montana Miners’ Case

State officials had a responsibility to warn miners about decades of dangerous health conditions at a Libby vermiculite mine, but a trial was needed to determine if government officials failed to fulfill that duty, a divided Montana Supreme Court said Tuesday.

The 4-3 decision said the government’s immunity from being sued provided no protection from the claims of the miners suffering from years of exposure to asbestos in the mine, which W.R. Grace & Co. closed in 1990.

Montana law clearly required the state to gather information about health problems in workplaces and pass on such information to its citizens, the court said. That created a legal duty for the government in this case, the justices concluded.

The ruling was a blow to the state’s defense against the claims of nine people who either worked at the mine or were married to people who did.

But the court did not determine whether the state did anything wrong or whether the government must pay any damages. A district court trial is needed to settle those questions, the court said.

Still, the court did question the lack of action by the state in warning workers about the dangers associated with mining vermiculite after conducting four inspections between 1956 and 1964.

The majority said the state’s argument that it could not have foreseen the mine operators’ failure to protect workers “rings hollow.” Inspections showed nothing was being done by Grace or its predecessor, Zonolite Co., the court said.

Grace bought Zonolite in 1963.

“Plainly, the state knew as a result of its inspections that the mine’s owner was doing nothing to protect the workers from the toxins in their midst,” Justice Patricia Cotter said for the court.

Jon Heberling, a Kalispell lawyer for the nine Libby residents suing the state, said the high court ruling applied to scores of other miners who developed health problems.

“This may mean that the state has a duty to pay part, but not all, of the compensation for the Libby miners,” he said.