Montana Asbestos Court Created To Take On Hundreds Of Unresolved Cases

"The Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a special claims court be activated for people who have contracted asbestos-related disease or died from asbestos exposure from a now-shuttered W.R. Grace mine in northwestern Montana.

This will be the first time the court has been activated since it was passed in an act by lawmakers in 2001. In the order, justices cited the need to resolve the claims in a timely fashion, considering the complexity of the cases as well as the "detrimental impact" to the district courts where litigation has been moving through an already overloaded system.

The cases listed in the Supreme Court's order — 548 individuals suing entities such as the state of Montana, BNSF Railway and a host of insurance companies for asbestos-related damages — are now effectively consolidated as they move into the claims court to be managed by one judge."

Seaborn Larson reports for the Great Falls Tribune November 28, 2018.