Page 106 - ACTL Journal_Sum24

For many years W.R. Grace & Company operated a dust choked vermiculite mine and mill, producing raw material for insulation that contained dead- ly asbestos fibers. Employees and the entire community of Libby, Montana were exposed, giving rise to deadly illness, often not manifesting itself until decades later. In 2020, after lengthy litigation championed by the McGar- vey law firm in Kalispell, Montana, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that Grace’s workers compensation carrier had “engaged in affirmative actions to conceal the asbestos exposure risk and worker injuries” in order to avoid lia- bility and with knowledge that it could take years for the illnesses to become apparent. That decision cleared the way. The McGarvey firm enlisted Cliff to try a bellwether test case for the hundreds of employee victims, Ralph Hutt v. Maryland Casualty.
When Cliff was contacted in late September 2021 to try the case – scheduled for trial in February of 2022 – he was just a couple weeks out from a tri-level lumbar surgery to his spine, still in rehab and using a walker. While he ques- tioned his ability to get up to speed under the circumstances, he was buoyed by his sense of outrage at the conduct of the responsible parties, which re- sulted in industrial poisoning of thousands of Montanans, causing untold numbers of asbestos-related cancers, mesothelioma and horrible deaths, as well as the efforts to deny the facts and avoid responsibility. With the unflag- ging support of the McGarvey team, he committed to bring the case home. After drinking from the proverbial firehose to prepare, Cliff tried the case and secured a $36.5 million dollar verdict.
In retelling the story, Cliff focused on the personal relationship he developed with his client Ralph Hutt. Given his disease, age and COVID, Ralph was in no condition to attend the trial, and Cliff took what he described as the longest direct exam (two hours) of his ca- reer to perpetuate Ralph’s testimony. Ralph was videotaped connected to his oxygen ma- chine, in his tiny 1970’s era trailer in Rose- burg, Oregon, and he was compelling. Per Cliff, “the jury never took their eyes off Ralph.” A veteran, he explained that he had signed up to serve his country, knowing full well that he might die as a result, but he “never would and never did sign up to die for a corporation.” Laughing, Cliff noted that Ralph lived with his ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-wife Carol, who he had married and divorced five (count ‘em - five) times. Ralph had the court and jury howling with laughter, declaring “I don’t know. It just seems to work better that way.” Ralph became a close friend, and as a consequence, per Cliff, the case has moved to the top of his personal highlight reel of trials.
Cliff is grateful to Montana district court Judge Parker for allowing the case to finally be tried, resisting serial attempts to continue the trial given the pandemic. This allowed Ralph to have a chance to enjoy the benefit from the trial before he died. The judge made every ef- fort to make his courtroom the safest place to be during the pandemic, with hand sani- tizer, mandatory masking, daily temperature testing, isolation of witnesses, etc.; the only
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