Saga of W. R. Grace Trial Continues

June 5 , 2006 - In yet another attempt to stall or divert the trial of a number of W. R. Grace executives accused of conspiracy to conceal health risks posed by asbestos at the firm’s vermiculite mine near Libby, in northwest Montana, attorneys for the company are seeking the dismissal of dozens of government witnesses.

An Associated Press article published in the Helena (MT) Independent Record notes that Grace’s attorneys want a federal judge “to keep prosecutors from calling certain experts and witnesses at their upcoming trial, arguing in part that the experts cannot specify the cause of any asbestos-related illnesses.”

Many of the witnesses are so-called “victim witnesses”, whose medical records have been provided and reviewed in preparation for the case against W. R. Grace.  Others are scheduled to present expert testimony on the witness’s diagnoses. 

‘‘The government’s witness submissions and expert disclosures make clear that many of these individuals have prior occupational exposures (either at the Libby mine or elsewhere), environmental exposures in Libby before 1976 and/or indoor air exposures’’ — collectively considered ‘‘non-indictment exposures,’’ states the motion filed by the attorneys.

The W. R. Grace trial is scheduled to begin in September but the Grace lawyers are attempting to have the trial date pushed back, noting that they haven’t had time to adequately prepare for it.  They are also seeking separate trials for each defendant.