Emerging from a decade-old bankruptcy that was originally filed in April 2001, W.R. Grace and Company has announced that – in accordance with its reorganization plan – they will be placing $19.5 million in a trust that will compensate victims sickened by asbestos exposure from the company’s vermiculite mine and processing plant in Libby, Montana.

The Washington Post reports that this trust, dubbed the Libby Medical Plan Trust, is being organized to insure that the current Libby Medical Program will continue. This particular program was initiated in 2000 after news outlets began to bring to light the widespread cases of asbestos-related diseases and deaths among individuals who worked at and lived near the plant and mine. Grace has had the option of terminating the Libby Medical Program at any time, though it has indeed continued throughout the bankruptcy.

W.R. Grace attorney Jon Heberling told reporters that the new Libby Medical Plan Trust should put victims’ minds to rest and remove any uncertainty that the medical program will continue.  “When final settlement documents are approved by the bankruptcy court, all objections to the plan of reorganization from the Libby claimants will be settled and will be withdrawn.”

A separate fund, the Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, is also being established and claimants will draw payments from that as well. To date, more than 400 people have died in conjunction with asbestos exposure at Grace’s Libby, Montana facility and experts estimate that another 1,500 or so are currently suffering from related diseases like malignant pleural mesothelioma, asbestosis, or pleural plaques. The Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby, however, reports that they have a caseload of 2,800 patients suffering from asbestos ailments and are adding more each day.

The settlements, explains the Washington Post article, are subject to approval by the claimants. Some victims and their families will no doubt view them as “too little, too late”. Many families watched loved ones die while Grace filed bankruptcy to escape the onslaught of asbestos litigation that plagued the company, which operated an asbestos-tainted vermiculite mine in the small town of Libby for almost 30 years. Previous to that, the mine was owned and operated by the Zonolite Company. It closed for good in 1990.

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