Angel Di Bilio/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
A federal jury said Monday that Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE:BRK.B) (BRK.A) BNSF Railway unit contributed to the deaths of two people who were exposed to asbestos decades ago when tainted mining material was shipped through Libby, Montana.
The Associated Press reported the jury awarded $4M each in compensatory damages to the estates of the two plaintiffs, who died in 2020, but no punitive damages were awarded, since the jury did not find that BNSF acted intentionally or with indifference.
Attorneys for the estates of the two victims had argued BNSF knew the asbestos-tainted vermiculite was dangerous but failed to act, while lawyers for the railroad said the company’s employees did not know the material they hauled over decades from a nearby mine was filled with hazardous microscopic asbestos fibers.
The case was the first of several lawsuits against BNSF to reach trial over its past operations the small Montana town.