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A federal jury said Monday that Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) (BRK.A) The BNSF rail unit contributed to the deaths of two people exposed to asbestos decades ago when contaminated mining material was shipped through Libby, Montana.
The Associated Press reports the jury awarded $4 million each in compensatory damages to the estates of the two plaintiffs, who died in 2020, but no punitive damages were awarded, as the jury did not find that BNSF acted willfully or with indifference.
Lawyers for the estates of the two victims had argued that BNSF knew that asbestos-contaminated vermiculite was dangerous but had failed to act, while lawyers for the railroad had argued that company employees did not know that the material transported for decades from a mine nearby was full of dangerous substances. microscopic asbestos fibers.
The case was the first of several lawsuits against BNSF to go to trial over its past operations in the small Montana town.