Libby's CARD Clinic closed following court ruling

The future of Libby’s CARD Clinic has never looked more bleak.

In a Wednesday morning press release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, it announced it served a Writ of Execution on the Center for Asbestos Related Disease, Inc. for $3.1 million to satisfy a judgment against the clinic.

The judgment stems from a lawsuit won in 2023 by railroad giant BNSF, owned by billionaire Warren Buffett, that accused the clinic of filing hundreds of fraudulent claims over several years.

A writ of execution is a court order directing a sheriff to seize and sell property to satisfy a judgment. The writ was filed Feb. 12 in Lincoln County District Court and received by the county Sheriff’s Office March 5.

CARD opened in 2000 and the non-profit clinic has served thousands of area residents exposed to Libby amphibole asbestos. That year, CARD was established as a department of St. John’s Lutheran Hospital, now known as Cabinet Peaks Medical Center. 

In April 2003, CARD separated from St. John’s and became a non-profit. It moved to its current location in 2004.

Gold miners discovered vermiculite in Libby in 1881. In the 1920s, the Zonolite Company formed and began mining the vermiculite. In 1963, W.R. Grace bought the Zonolite mining operations. The mine closed in 1990. In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency placed the site on the Superfund program’s National Priorities List and cleanup work continues to this day.

Fibers from the asbestos tied to vermiculite mining that began in the 1920s can embed in lung tissue and cause fatal lung disease. No one knows how many people in the region have died from the effects of asbestosis, mesothelioma or other cancers linked to exposure to asbestos-containing vermiculite mined, processed and shipped from Lincoln County and Libby.

BNSF’s involvement relates to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite in the rail yard that a 2024 federal jury said was a considerable factor in the negligent deaths of former Libby residents Thomas Wells and Joyce Walder. Both Wells and Walder lived near the railyard and were both diagnosed with mesothelioma and died in 2020.

Sheriff Darren Short spoke to The Western News Wednesday afternoon. Short’s father, Jim, was a CARD patient before his death in 2021.

“The worst part for me is I don’t want to see it affect the health of our community members and CARD employees,” Short said. “We’re now depending on what the attorneys file in court and I hope something gets worked out.”

Short explained that his office’s role in the court order was seizing the CARD bank accounts, one in Libby and one in Kalispell, seizing personal and real property at the clinic.

“A locksmith will change the locks and we’ll regularly patrol the building to ensure it’s security until there is a court decision determining the future of the clinic,” Short said.

County deputy Anthony Smith was at the front door explaining the situation to patients and curious onlookers.

About 19 people worked at the clinic.

In a Wednesday morning email from CARD Executive Director Tracy McNew to The Western News, it asked local media outlets to cancel all CARD ads immediately until further notice.

McNew also provided a written response Wednesday afternoon to an email inquiry by The Western News. She asserted the writ was done without the approval of the Bankruptcy Court.

“For over two decades, the Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) has provided essential screening, monitoring and treatment for Libby residents who have been exposed to asbestos,” McNew said. “Today, BNSF Railway Company (the entity responsible for paying claims for injuries related to the asbestos in its yards in Libby) has taken legal steps to shut CARD down and to stop CARD’s work for those impacted by Libby asbestos. This is in follow up to the well-publicized trial BNSF brought against CARD in 2023. Following that trial, CARD filed for bankruptcy to ensure that it could continue its work in Libby. The Court and BNSF ultimately agreed that CARD’s assets are held in trust for the United States government pursuant to CARD’s federal grants, which has allowed CARD to continue its important work. 

“BNSF’s actions today to execute on CARD's real and personal property appear contrary to that stipulation and pursued without approval of the Bankruptcy Court. Nevertheless, BNSF's actions today have closed CARD’s doors. CARD remains committed to its patients and the Libby community and will fight to reopen as soon as possible,” McNew concluded. 

The serving of the court order comes on the heels of a May 2 story by Montana Public Radio that reported a grant that pays for much of the clinic’s operations was in doubt while the Trump Administration reviews various programs.

That grant, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was awarded to the clinic for asbestos health screening. McNew announced the grant award last fall and said it was effective from Sept. 1, 2024, through August 2029.

The Montana Public Radio story indicated the $3 million grant accounted for 80% of the clinic’s budget, according to an email from McNew to the news outlet.

In September 2024, CARD lost an appeal to a jury’s $6 million judgment in June 2023. Federal jurors ruled that the clinic made or presented false claims 337 times, including 91 violations after November 2015.

CARD filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2023, allowing it to continue operations. But the United States intervened in the bankruptcy proceeding and determined that the judgment should not be paid, so the bankruptcy was settled and dismissed in spring 2024.

CARD is also the target of a local lawsuit filed Oct. 10, 2024, in Lincoln County District Court. It alleges medical malpractice, wrongful death and claims of disabling Lincoln County residents by prescribing them opioid pain killers following the misdiagnosis of health issues. 

The civil suit alleges medical malpractice against Dr. Charles Brad Black and the Center for Asbestos Related Disease, including Executive Director Tracy McNew. The court filing also argues CARD knew or should have known both men didn’t satisfy diagnostic requirements for asbestos-related disease and should not have been giving opioid pain medications in the manner prescribed by CARD providers.  

That suit is still pending in district court.