An asbestos screening clinic in a Montana town where thousands have been sickened dust from a nearby mine has been shuttered by local authorities.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office closed on Wednesday the Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the U.S.-Canada border. The town of about 3,000 people is near a mine that produced asbestos dust for decades, and the clinic has been at the forefront of efforts to help victims.

Courts in Montana have said BNSF contributed to the pollution when it brought contaminated material from the mine through town, and the railway separately faces numerous lawsuits from asbestos victims in Libby and surrounding communities.

But the Texas-based railway prevailed in a 2023 lawsuit alleging the clinic fraudulently made some patients eligible for government benefits when it knew they were not sick. The railway challenged the validity of over 2,000 diagnoses by the clinic and 337 were ruled false.

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
    331·
    1 day ago

    CARD bankruptcy attorney James “Andy” Patten said the railway’s attempts to collect on the fraud judgment violated the bankruptcy settlement, which was approved by a federal court. Sloan declined to comment on the bankruptcy settlement.

    Capitalism has got to go. It’s an eternal ATM for capitalists, and a death sentence for everyone else.

    • gaja@lemm.ee
      13·
      1 day ago

      I’m confused. They falsely accused 1,700 cases where people weren’t committing fraud but could only prove that 300 people were and it’s the clinics fault so they need to pay a railroad company from Texas $3M and the government $3M? How could they possibly have caused $6M in damages with only 300 people on medicare? Did each person get paid $20,000?