In what could be W.R. Grace and Co.’s first step in a seven year attempt to leave Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection, the company has agreed to pay $250 million for the investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination around its Libby, MT mine.The vermiculite mine was among the more publicized cases of asbestos exposure that affected not only the mine workers, but also the surrounding town. Traces of asbestos were nearly everywhere in the town, including in schools, homes and businesses. Nearly all traces of asbestos could be attributed to the nearby mine’s failure to properly control their hazardous waste.
WR Grace agrees to pay $250 Million for Libby Montana Asbestos Problem
March 14, 2008
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Asbestos, Bankruptcy, lawsuits | Tagged: Asbestos, Libby Montana, WR Grace | 
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Posted by Dave Austin
We’ll be hearing about Asbestos for a LONG time.
March 1, 2008The elementary school in Libby was damaged during snow removal recently, and raw vermiculite poured out of the resulting hole in the wall. At least one child picked up the dangerous substance delivered courtesy of W.R. Grace. Will Libby ever be clean? Has the government done the best it can for Libby residents? And will the government’s case against Grace ever actually make it to court? Read Vince Devlin’s story in Thursday’s paper, then come back and drop us a line.
I’ve blogged recently about how WR Grace wants to get back in business and limit its liability for asbestos diseases. Frankly it looks to me like WR Grace should be paying “through the nose” so to speak and should really be held responsible for ALL of the damage that they caused in Libby and elsewhere.
Why should the taxpayers have to pay the bill to clean up WR Grace’s mess? We shouldn’t.
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Asbestos, Bankruptcy, Mesothelioma, lawsuits | Tagged: Libby, Montana asbestos, WR Grace | 
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Posted by Dave Austin
WR GRace given more time.
February 26, 2008Lawyers with W.R. Grace are getting more time to file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, as well as to perhaps settle pre-trial issues in the government’s criminal case dealing with Libby asbestos.
If the high court accepts the case, then it would make a final ruling on whether the government can use certain evidence at trial.
Source: Montana’s News Station
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Asbestos, Bankruptcy, Court | Tagged: Asbestos, Bankruptcy | 
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Posted by Dave Austin
Travelers $500 Million asbestos settlement overturned.
February 21, 2008Travelers Cos. Inc. announced Tuesday that the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals has overturned a bankruptcy court’s approval of a $500 million asbestos-related insurance settlement. The decision, made late Friday, would reverse a $500 million settlement in March 2006 of certain insurance claims arising from a suit by Denver-based Johns-Manville Corp. The case has been remanded to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for reconsideration. In its decision, the New York-based federal appeals court said the bankruptcy court that approved the settlement had no legal jurisdiction to do so.
Travelers, Manville’s longtime primary insurer, agreed in 2004 to settle three groups of “direct action” lawsuits filed against it by claimants allegedly injured by products made by Manville. The plaintiffs argued that Travelers violated state and common law in handling the claims and did not disclose what it knew of the asbestos hazards.
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Posted by Dave Austin
Group Objects to Dana’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy Plan
January 9, 2008This is not unusual. Whenever a plan like this is put together there are going to be peopl ewho object and who actually file objections with the court. This doesn’t mean the plan will be thrown out. It means that the objection has to be addressed. Sometimes an objection like this can make the plan to compensate the asbestos cancer victims better, sometimes the objection is just overruled.
From Yahoo Finance
A group representing “tens of thousands” of people who claim they were injured by asbestos in Dana Corp. products has appealed the confirmation of the auto-parts supplier’s bankruptcy-reorganization plan.
The group, known as the ad hoc committee of asbestos claimants, filed notice of the appeal Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, but provided no explanation.
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Posted by Dave Austin
W.R Grace, Asbestos and Bankruptcy. What will the judge do?
January 4, 2008W.R Grace is betting that a bankruptcy judge will set it’s liability at a level that will allow it to come out of bankruptcy. We’ll see. W.R Grace is in bankruptcy court right now and the court needs to determine how much it has to pay to cover it’s liability to injured people. (People with asbestos related diseases, such as lung cancer and mesothelioma and asbestosis). According to the article if the judge decides that it must set aside $700 Million give or take, then the company will be able to get out of bankruptcy. If the number is higher, and experts for the asbestos claimants say that the liability could be as high at $3.7 Billion, then the company will likely be “owned” by the injured parties.
PHILADELPHIA -
W.R. Grace & Co. is getting ready to gamble the company on the decision of a lone bankruptcy judge who will take up a question that would otherwise be in the hands of an army of judges and jurors.
The question set for trial this month is how much the Columbia, Md.-based specialty chemical company owes for injuries, death and other damage linked to its asbestos products. The trial will begin Jan. 14 in a Delaware bankruptcy court and will produce the number that will be the core of Grace’s Chapter 11 exit plan.
If the answer from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith Fitzgerald is $700 million or a little more, Grace and its shareholders are safe and on their way out of bankruptcy, with enough value to cover the asbestos damage bill and have something left over for shareholders.
But if Fitzgerald estimates asbestos liabilities at $2 billion or $3 billion or more, Grace is destined to become the property of people damaged by its toxic products, and shareholders will be out in the cold.
Here’s the link to the rest of the article at Forbes: Grace Trial to Test Asbestos Claims
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Posted by Dave Austin
