Montana asbestos clinic seeks to reverse $6M in fines, penalties over false claims
Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly asbestos contamination is asking an appeals court to reverse almost $6 million in fines and penalties after a jury found it submitted hundreds of false claims. Asbestos-tainted vermiculite mined from a nearby mountain was shipped through Libby, Montana, by rail over decades, sickening or killing thousands of people. A jury last year said 337 cases from the Center for Asbestos Related Disease were based on false claims that made patients eligible for Medicare and other benefits. Arguments in the case are scheduled for Wednesday morning. BNSF Railway, which brought the case, separately faces lawsuits over its own role in Libby’s contamination.
