BNSF Railway Appeals $8M Libby, Montana Asbestos Verdict

BNSF Railway is asking the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn an $8 million jury verdict tied to asbestos contamination at its rail yard in Libby, Montana, a town where an estimated 694 people have died from asbestos-related diseases.

The April 2024 verdict awarded $4 million each to the estates of Joyce Walder and Thomas Wells, two people who developed mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite that passed through the BNSF rail yard. The appeal, heard in Portland, Oregon, in October 2025, centers on whether federal law shields the railroad from liability for contamination that occurred during its operations.

More than 200 pending cases against BNSF in Montana courts hinge on the outcome.

The Libby Disaster

Libby, Montana, is the site of one of the worst environmental health disasters in American history.

For decades, W.R. Grace and Company operated a vermiculite mine outside Libby that produced an estimated 80% of the world’s vermiculite supply. The ore was contaminated with a particularly toxic form of asbestos known as Libby Amphibole. Asbestos-laden dust spread across the town, settling in baseball fields, yards, schools, and the downtown rail yard where BNSF transported the product.

The contamination was so severe that the EPA declared Libby a Public Health Emergency in 2009, the first such declaration under the federal Superfund law. The cleanup took approximately 19 years and cost roughly $600 million. The EPA investigated more than 7,600 properties and cleaned up over 2,600 homes and businesses.

An estimated 2,400 people in the Libby area have been diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases. CDC data shows death rates from asbestos-related conditions in Lincoln County between 1999 and 2020 were more than 10 times higher than in Montana’s most populated counties.

The People Behind the Verdict

Joyce Walder grew up in Libby and later moved to Idaho, California, and the Bahamas. She worked in schools and served in the US Air Force Reserve. She was diagnosed with mesothelioma in mid-2020 and died in October 2020 at age 66. Her sister, Judith Hemphill, serves as estate representative.

Thomas Wells worked for the US Forest Service in Libby during summers in the 1970s. He lived in a trailer near the downtown BNSF rail yard. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma at the end of 2019 and died in March 2020 at age 65.

His son, Jackson Wells, said his father “felt a connection with Libby, even though he wasn’t there for that long. So whatever he could do to help out the community was what it was about for him.”

What the Jury Found

After a two-week trial led by attorney Mark Lanier, the federal jury found BNSF strictly liable for the toxic contamination at its downtown Libby rail yard. The jury concluded that the rail yard contamination was a “substantial factor” in both deaths and that BNSF’s handling of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite was “outside its duties as a common carrier.”

The jury did not find BNSF negligent, did not find that the company had knowledge or intentional disregard of hazardous conditions, and awarded no punitive damages. The verdict was limited to compensatory damages.

BNSF’s rail yard in Libby contained approximately 18,000 tons of contaminated soil when cleanup began in 2003. The cleanup involved removing millions of pounds of asbestos-contaminated dirt and thousands of contaminated rails and crossties. That cleanup concluded in 2020.

The Appeal

BNSF, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 2010, argues that federal “common carrier immunity” protects it from liability. The railroad contends it was legally obligated to transport W.R. Grace’s products and cannot be held liable for contamination caused by its shipping customer.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit heard oral arguments on October 21, 2025, in Portland. The panel included Judges Consuelo Callahan, Morgan Christen, and Andrew Hurwitz.

The attorneys for the Walder and Wells estates countered that asbestos contamination accumulated in the rail yard over decades and remained in the soil long after transport ceased. Attorney Kevin Parker argued that BNSF was not simply hauling vermiculite but was “working essentially as a business partner with W.R. Grace.”

What Happens Next

The 9th Circuit ruling is expected within several months. The losing side could seek review by the full appeals court or the US Supreme Court.

The stakes extend well beyond this single case. Montana Asbestos Claims Court Judge Amy Eddy has noted that if the appeals court reverses the verdict, BNSF would likely move to dismiss all pending cases related to its Libby operations. Attorneys representing Libby residents have said they are working on nearly 2,000 total cases against BNSF.

In a separate development, Libby’s asbestos-screening clinic was shuttered in May 2025 after losing a lawsuit to BNSF Railway, leaving the community with fewer resources to monitor the long-term health effects of decades of asbestos exposure.