UM Grace Case

Court began this morning with the continued cross-examination of government witness and former Grace financial analyst James Becker. Several defense attorneys questioned Becker throughout the morning, quickly reviewing several documents and memos.
David Bernick, defense attorney for W.R. Grace, completed the cross-examination he suspended Monday evening, asking Becker about several memos outlining test results from [...]

  Top employees at W.R. Grace knew about asbestos contamination in the Libby, Mont., mine since the late 1970s, James Richard Becker, Jr., said in court Monday morning. Becker, a former financial analyst for W.R. Grace, said the company worried it would have to change the way ore from Libby, Mont., was processed – an [...]

The questioning of Lerah Parker took up the remainder of the morning’s session, with just a glimpse of testimony yet to come from Dr. Alan Whitehouse. Parker’s questioning went much more smoothly than that of her husband, with few objections from the defense.
Parker entered the courtroom for her testimony with some obvious trepidation. A [...]

Attorneys for individual defendants labored to introduce their clients to the jury as real people, some of them even Libby residents, who were concerned about worker health at W.R. Grace.
Attorneys representing Henry Eschenbach, William McCaig, Robert Walsh and Jack Wolter also worked to cast doubt on various aspects of the government’s case, citing instances of [...]