Long wait for asbestos trust claimants

Many companies, when faced with massive numbers of asbestos-related lawsuits, respond by setting up trust funds from which claimants can be awarded compensation for the injuries they sustain after asbestos exposure. For some companies, it is vital for their existence, and is part of their bankruptcy settlements. However, many people must wait up to twelve months or even longer for compensation money after starting a claim. The Owens Corning/Fiberboard Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, for example, has a long list of claimants who are waiting for compensation, with many waiting for longer than a year. Since October 2006, when the trust was set up, it has paid $390 million to cover the claims of 70,000 people, most of whom are construction workers, ship-builders, and other trades people who developed asbestos-related diseases due to asbestos exposure caused by products which Toledo-based Owens Corning and its Fiberboard subsidiary once made. As part of Owens Corning’s six-year bankruptcy proceedings, the trust assumed responsibility for compensation of people who developed asbestos-related diseases that the company was found to be responsible for. The company funded the trust with a multibillion dollar settlement of cash and stocks. With 70,000 claims settled already, once might think the trust has already carried out its primary function and the creation of new claims must have slowed down: but since the trust was set up less than two years ago, it has received an additional 256,000 claims, and more come in every day. The statistics for Owens Corning’s trust are contained in the trust’s first detailed financial report, which was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware in the spring. The filing is a scant financial statement but doesn’t provide any commentary about whether the trust is meeting or exceeding any expectations in terms of factors such as claim number, size, and rate of completion. The report says, “The ultimate number of asbestos…claims to be filed and the liability for all such claims are not determinable at this time…The net assets available for the payment of claims at Dec. 31, 2007, may or may not be sufficient to meet all future obligations of the trust.” Currently the trust contains around $4.5 billion in cash and stocks. Around one third of that total is Owens Corning stock, and in fact, the trust holds almost a full quarter of the company’s stock, and is its biggest shareholder. So far, most claims for compensation have been for people who settled with OC many years ago, but had their settlement payments delayed by the company’s bankruptcy. The trust normally fills claims for compensation on a first-come first-served basis, except in situations where the claimant is extremely ill. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)