MISSOULA, Mont. -- A health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly asbestos contamination faces millions of dollars in penalties after a jury found it submitted more than 300 false asbestos claims to the U.S. government, making some of its patients eligible for Medicare and other benefits they shouldn't have received.
The small, federally funded clinic has been at the forefront of the medical response to deadly pollution from mining near Libby, Mont.
The town of about 3,000 people along the scenic Kootenai River gained national notoriety when it was declared a deadly Superfund site two decades ago, following media reports that workers and their families were being sickened by dust from a W.R. Grace mine.
A seven-person jury said Wednesday night that the false claims caused more than $1 million in damages to the federal government. Under the federal False Claims Act, the clinic is liable for three times the damages — or about $3.2 million — and millions of dollars more in potential penalties.
The verdict also could undermine numerous lawsuits from asbestos victims against BNSF Railway and other entities that courts have held liable for turning Libby into one of the nation’s deadliest polluted sites. Health officials have said at least 400 people have been killed and thousands sickened from asbestos exposure in the Libby area.
The case stemmed from a civil lawsuit filed by BNSF against the town's Center for Asbestos Related Disease health clinic, or CARD, in 2019 under...
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