Abestos lawsuit claimants voice frustration over settlements

After the recent announcement that Cascade County District Court Judge John Kutzman approved the $24 million settlement for 1,000 amphibole asbestos victims in the area, claimants from that settlement and past settlements have voiced how little comfort the money gives them.

Julie Pickett was born and raised in Libby. She was exposed to the asbestos from early childhood — playing in piles of asbestos like many in those days.

Now, Pickett, 60, is on oxygen constantly. She quit her job and is now on disability. Her husband, Paul, has congestive heart failure which she blames on the Libby asbestos since he worked for a pipe company that did a lot of business for W.R. Grace.

“We’ve gotten a little bit here and a little bit there,” Julie said, noting it’s not enough to pay all the medical bills that have piled up. “These guys are not doing what is right for all people in Libby. We didn’t ask for this and they didn’t give us a chance. They didn’t bother to tell anybody that [the amphibole asbestos] was bad until they were forced to.”

Her story is common in Libby. Whether it’s autoimmune diseases, cancer or asbestosis — a large portion of Libby residents over the age of 50-60 develop incurable and mostly fatal illnesses.

The EPA, who announced a ‘last call’ for asbestos cleanup earlier this year, has spent close to $600 million and the last 16 years cleaning up the superfund site of Libby —but the damage was long done before the EPA arrived.

Since then, the actual dollar amount of claims made against W.R. Grace and the state of Montana is difficult to pin down — there’s been over 100, some of them which didn’t fall under class action lawsuits and a percentage of each of the settlements went to pay attorney fees (33 percent of the $24 million settlement went to law firms).

William and Patricia Denny are also part of a class action lawsuit, and they’ve also voiced their concerns, and frustration.

“There’s no restitution for people,” William said. “We’re being told to take an offer because ‘this is as good as it’s going to get’. All your life is worth to the state is $10,000.”

Doug Shaw, 65, a resident of Libby, is also on disability and was diagnosed with an asbestos related disease back in 2001. He said that he was exposed to what he referred to as “the slow-death poison” from the time he was born. It was 13 years before he received money from a settlement. Recently, he said, he was offered $600.

“It’s never enough, I still have to pay for my slow demise,” Shaw said. “Yes, I took the money, but that doesn’t stop me from being murdered, and that’s what this is. I’m tired of burying people, family, friends and reading obituaries in the paper. There’s 600 deaths that the CARD Clinic has documented. There were thousands before that and thousands to come.”

Shaw said that he blames W.R. Grace, as well as the government entities for not doing enough for the asbestos victims.

“[The W.R. Grace mine] would still be open today if they weren’t confronted,” Shaw said. “We’re the city of Eagles, we’re proud people here. They want us to all die and go away.”