Our Experience

Represented W.R. Grace and seven executives in a case that spanned four and a half years and involved two interlocutory appeals to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It culminated in a three-month long trial in Missoula, Montana in Spring 2009, on charges of conspiracy, Clean Air Act knowing endangerment of townspeople in Libby, Montana by releasing asbestos, and obstruction of justice. The trial ended in an acquittal on all counts against W.R. Grace three co-defendants. Two other defendants were dismissed on the government's motion before the close of evidence; one defendant passed away before trial; and charges against the final defendant, whose trial had been severed, were dismissed later in 2009. This was the largest criminal environmental prosecution by the Department of Justice in U.S. History.