Court throws out judgment blaming Montana asbestos deaths on BNSF railroad

BILLINGS, Mont.

(AP) — A federal appeals court has overturned a judge’s finding that BNSF Railway contributed to the deaths of two people in a Montana mining town where thousands have been sickened by asbestos exposure.

Following a civil trial, a jury in 2024 awarded $4 million each to the estates of the two people who died in 2020. Their families blamed the railroad for allowing asbestos-contaminat…