Category: Bankruptcy Trusts

Many trusts this year have expanded their approved job site lists, allowing compensation for more individuals who claim to have an asbestos-related injury. However, as can be seen below, many trusts also have decreased their payment percentages.

In fact, there has not been an increase in payment percentages during the 3rd quarter of 2022 from any bankrupt trusts. 

The rising costs of inflation have even affected bankruptcy trust payouts. It will be interesting to see if any bankrupt trusts will decrease their approved jobsite list …

Honeywell International, Inc. has filed a claim in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against the North American Refractories Co. asbestos victims trust. In the lawsuit, Honeywell alleges the fund’s managers are wrongly paying claimants who allege they have suffered injuries related to asbestos exposure.

The lawsuit follows several years of disputes between Honeywell and the trust, which was established to resolve the bankruptcy of Honeywell’s former affiliate, North American Refractories Co. (NARCO). Honeywell owned NARCO from about 1979 to 1986. …

As previously reported on Asbestos Case Tracker, by the end of the first quarter of 2021 there were 11 trusts which had changes impacting the amount of compensation available to individuals claiming asbestos-related injuries. As the second quarter of 2021 comes to a close, there are now changes to nine trusts, five of which also saw changes at the end of the first quarter. Below is a summary of the changes, to date.

Asbestos bankruptcy trusts remain a topic frequently monitored and reported on Asbestos Case Tracker.  As the first quarter of 2021 comes to a close, we have seen a number of changes to 11 trusts that will impact the amount of compensation available to individuals claiming asbestos-related injuries. 

Below is a summary of the changes, to date. It will be interesting to see how the PROTECT Asbestos Victims Act, reported on last month, may impact the bankruptcies if it progresses.

Defendants Honeywell and Ford Motor appealed the District Court’s decision affirming the denial of “unconditional access” to numerous exhibits submitted in connection with “administering nine asbestos bankruptcies.” The court had previously permitted review of the documents for three months with certain limitations. However, unfettered access was denied as doing so would “pose an undue risk of identity theft and exposure to private medical information.” The court concluded that the bankruptcy code permitted protection from disclosure of information that would “create an undue risk of identity …