Montana clinic files for bankruptcy following $6 million judgment over false asbestos claims
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly asbestos contamination has filed for bankruptcy protection after a judge ordered it to pay the government almost $6 million in penalties and damages for submitting false asbestos claims. The bankruptcy filing would allow the Center for Asbestos Related Disease clinic in the small town of Libby to continue operating while it appeals. The $6 million judgment came in a lawsuit filed by BNSF Railway under the False Claims Act. BNSF shipped contaminated material from the mine and is a defendant in hundreds of asbestos-related lawsuits.