CARD Clinic, Foundation due $57,441, judge rules

A judge has ordered that the Center for Asbestos Related Disease Clinic and Foundation be reimbursed for some of the costs both have incurred responding to subpoenas from defense attorneys in Asbestos Claims Court cases. Neither Libby nonprofit is a party to any case being tried in the court.

Flathead District Judge Amy Eddy, who presides over the court, found that the CARD Clinic is due $57,384.98 and the CARD Foundation $56, according to a court order filed Nov. 15.

The subpoenas have been a focus of attorneys for BNSF Railway Company, one of the defendants in many of the hundreds of asbestos settlement cases that have been consolidated in an asbestos claims court the Montana Supreme Court created in Kalispell last December.

The subpoenas have compelled a number of former and current staffers of both the CARD Clinic and CARD Foundation to testify in depositions — some more than once — and sought what has amounted to over 30,000 documents.

Attorneys for the nonprofits had argued for almost $75,000 according to a court document filed Oct. 9. Language in that document and one filed Sept. 28, seeking almost $63,000, indicated that the requested amount would continue to increase so long as the Clinic and Foundation responded to subpoenas.

Attorneys’ costs and fees comprise the bulk of the money the Clinic and Foundation seek to recover, according to Eddy’s order. Clinic staff, scanning and document preparation, deposition, postage and copying costs comprise the remainder.

Counsel for the defendants — BNSF Railway, the State of Montana, International Paper and Maryland Casualty Corporation — had argued the Clinic and Foundation were due $6,707.17 of the almost $63,000, states a response filed Oct. 2.

The defense did not appear to file a response to the Oct. 9 request, and the court record does not yet show a response to Eddy’s order.