Published October 23, 2026
The families of two people who died of mesothelioma after asbestos exposure tied to Libby, Montana, have reached the end of the road in their case against BNSF Railway. On October 5, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court denied their petition for review, according to Mealey's. That leaves standing a federal appeals ruling that erased the $8 million the families won at trial.
Libby was home to W.R. Grace & Co.'s vermiculite mine, and the ore it produced was contaminated with asbestos. BNSF hauled that vermiculite out of town by rail. The estates of Thomas Wells and Joyce Walder, both of whom died in 2020, sued the railroad, arguing that asbestos dust from its handling of the ore contributed to their illness. In 2024, a federal jury in Helena awarded $4 million to each estate. It was the first of numerous Libby-related lawsuits against BNSF to reach trial.
On February 24, 2026, the Ninth Circuit reversed. In an opinion by Judge Morgan Christen, the court applied the common-carrier exception under Montana law: because BNSF was moving the vermiculite as part of its legal duty as a common carrier, it could not be held strictly liable for the resulting dust. The plaintiffs had asked for the Montana Supreme Court to weigh in on the state-law question, but that request was denied, and the Ninth Circuit later turned down a request for rehearing by the full court.
The Supreme Court distributed the petition for its first conference of the new term and then declined to take the case, without explanation — which is how the Court handles the vast majority of petitions. A denial is not a ruling on the merits, but it does make the Ninth Circuit's decision final for these two families.
The ruling is narrow in an important way. It concerns a railroad's strict liability for transporting a hazardous material it was legally required to carry. It does not address claims against the companies that mined, manufactured or sold asbestos products, and numerous other Libby-related lawsuits against BNSF remain in the pipeline. How those cases proceed will depend on the specific legal theories and facts involved.
Mesothelioma is strongly linked to asbestos exposure, and symptoms often appear decades later. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, see Atumio's asbestos and mesothelioma case page or start a free case review.