Federal Prosecutors Dismiss Last W.R. Grace Defendant

The last remaining defendant in the W.R. Grace & Co. trial in Missoula, Montana, O. Mario Favorito, the company's chief lawyer, has been dismissed by federal prosecutors because all former defendants have been exonerated.

In May, Robert Bettacchi, Jack Wolter, and Henry Eschenbach were all acquitted of charges that they conspired to hide violations of the Clean Air Act and obstructed the course of justice in their positions as senior vice president, vice president of the construction products division, and director of health, safety and toxicology for W.R. Grace, a global specialty chemicals and materials company headquartered in Columbia, Maryland.

The not-guilty verdict delivered for the first three defendants was handed down on May 8 after 35 days worth of testimony over a period of several months. Favorito, who was scheduled to stand trail separately in 2006 because of potential conflicts inherent in his defense, was dismissed on June 15.

The case against Grace and its executives began in 2005 when a federal grand jury in Montana issued an indictment citing concealment of evidence, as far back as the 1970s, about the hazardous effects of the asbestos which came from Grace's Libby (Montana) asbestos mining operations. The defendants, and the company, also stood accused of obstructing government cleanup efforts at the mine, and wire fraud.

Of the seven original defendants, Alan Stringer, the mine's general manager, died in 2007. Late in the trial, prosecutors dropped charges against former senior vice president Robert Walsh, and former general manager of the Libby Mine, William McCaig.

Defense lawyers insisted almost from the beginning that the government's case was factually inaccurate, motivated by political alliances, and marked by misconduct. The conspiracy charge was considered particularly baseless because, according to the defense, the government always knew and understood the asbestos risks at Libby.

Asbestos, a fibrous mineral found in natural rock formations, can - if inhaled or ingested - cause irritations or lesions in the mesothelial lining of the lungs and abdomen, leading to lung and digestive system cancers and mesothelioma, a particularly lethal form of cancer that lies dormant for decades before producing symptoms definitive enough to lead to diagnosis. Once diagnosed, patients are usually given about 18 months to live. Even where asbestos does not cause cancer, it can cause asbestosis, a debilitating respiratory disease.

Writing in the Flathead Beacon, reporter Myers Reece notes that the verdicts were not unexpected. During the trial, Judge Donald Malloy frequently invoked Rule 403 to prevent large (and potentially damaging) amounts of testimony and evidence from coming forward.
However, as longtime Libby resident Gayle Benefield points out, one can only be angry for so long. Thus for many Libby residents disappointed by the verdict, it has become time to move on.

W.R. Grace certainly will. On June 16, W.R. Grace stock stood at 96.3 percent above its March value of $6.80, selling for $13.34 per share.

Sources: Bloomberg, New West, KPAX

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