WILMINGTON, Del. — W.R. Grace & Co. and six former executives criminally charged with poisoning Libby, Mont., residents with asbestos lost a bid to challenge a ruling that threw out lower court decisions favoring the defense.
A federal appeals court Wednesday declined to reconsider its September opinion overruling trial court limits on government charges and evidence. If convicted, the company may face a fine of as much as $280 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last month. The individual defendants may be sentenced to as much as 15 years in prison.
The U.S. argued that the trial court rulings, most of which were reversed in September, made it “impossible for us to proceed at all in front of a jury,” federal prosecutor Kris McLean told the court in June.
The government charged Grace and the former executives with violating the federal Clean Air Act and obstruction of justice, claiming they released asbestos-containing vermiculite in Libby and interfered with a government cleanup. Prosecutors alleged 1,200 people in and around the town have developed disease as a result of asbestos poisoning.
Asbestos-injury claims forced Grace to file for bankruptcy protection in 2001.
The September ruling by a three-judge federal appeals panel also reinstated a key conspiracy charge that Grace claimed was filed too late.
