The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up an asbestos case against Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway, ending the estates' bid to restore an $8 million award.
The justices denied the estates' petition for review (No. 26-54) in an order list issued Oct. 5. As is usual when it turns a case away, the court gave no explanation.
The petition was brought by the estates of two people who died of mesothelioma, according to Mealey's, a legal news service. The estates had won a combined $8 million judgment against the railroad, but the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed it in an opinion issued Feb. 24, 2026, and later turned down the estates' request for a rehearing before the full appeals court.
The lawsuit concerned vermiculite contaminated with asbestos that BNSF hauled from W.R. Grace & Co.'s mine in Libby, Mont., according to Mealey's. With the Supreme Court declining review, the appeals court's reversal stands. A denial of certiorari is not a ruling on the merits of the claims.
