Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-22/pfizer-reaches-asbestos-settlement-that-may-end-quigley-unit-s-bankruptcy.html

Pfizer, Quigley Seek Court Approval of Asbestos Settlement

By Tiffany Kary – Mar 22, 2011 4:24 PM ET

Pfizer Inc. (PFE), the world’s largest drugmaker, reached a settlement with asbestos claimants that may bring an end to its Quigley unit’s seven-year-old bankruptcy case.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein refused to allow Quigley to exit Chapter 11 court protection in September, saying Pfizer had manipulated the bankruptcy process to benefit itself. Pfizer and a committee of asbestos claimants entered into an agreement on March 20 that may resolve their dispute over claims, according to court papers filed yesterday in Manhattan.

The accord “resolves the legal and equitable issues that existed under that plan, including enhancing distributions for current claimants and future demand holders, improving reorganized Quigley’s long-term feasibility, and rectifying concerns regarding good faith,” lawyers for Quigley wrote.

[Article continues at original source]

Quoted from http://www.baltimoresun.com/dp-nws-asbestos-verdict-20110317,0,4639148.story

Newport News jury hands down $25 million verdict against Exxon in asbestos case

The jury verdict will be reduced to $17.5 million, and Exxon is expected to appeal

By Peter Dujardin, pdujardin@dailypress.com | 247-4749

5:32 p.m. EDT, March 17, 2011

NEWPORT NEWS— A Newport News Circuit Court jury on Thursday hit oil giant Exxon Mobil with a $25 million verdict in an asbestos lawsuit brought by a former shipyard worker — among the largest jury verdicts ever handed down in a Virginia personal injury case.

Rubert “Bert” Minton, 72, of the Carrollton section of Isle of Wight County, was a repair supervisor on commercial vessels at Newport News Shipbuilding between 1966 and 1977, and had previously worked there for seven years as a ship fitter in new construction.

During his time at the shipyard, Minton worked on 17 Exxon commercial oil tankers then being repaired.

Decades later, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a deadly asbestos-related cancer that doctors said he got from breathing billions of asbestos fibers while at the yard. He has a life expectancy of about two more years and faces a painful death, his lawyer said. He sued Exxon in late 2009.

After a nearly three-week trial in Newport News Circuit Court before Judge Timothy Fisher, the seven-member jury began deliberating Wednesday morning, reaching a verdict Thursday morning.

The jury awarded Minton $12 million in compensatory damages, $12.5 million in punitive damages, and $430,961 in medical expenses, plus interest.

[Article continues at original source]

Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-16/travelers-must-pay-for-johns-manville-s-asbestos-settlements-judge-rules.html

Travelers Ordered to Pay $500 Million to Johns Manville Asbestos Victims

By Tiffany Kary – Dec 16, 2010 1:11 PM ET

Travelers Cos. must immediately pay about $500 million to asbestos victims under a settlement made six years ago in the bankruptcy of Johns Manville Corp., a judge ruled.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan said in an order signed today that his ruling should resolve a dispute over whether a U.S. Supreme Court ruling reversed an earlier order over the settlements, among Travelers Indemnity Co. and Travelers Casualty & Surety Co., for their work as insurers to Johns Manville.

“The Court will resolve this narrow dispute that has gone on for too long, especially for those asbestos victims who have yet to be fully compensated,” Lifland said.

Johns Manville, once the nation’s largest maker of asbestos, filed for bankruptcy in 1982. In June 2009, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling that allowed suits against units of Travelers by people harmed by exposure to asbestos.

“Just as the Supreme Court has barred parties from bringing suit against Travelers based on the plain language of the 1986 orders, Travelers should likewise be bound by the plain language of the settlements, and should be compelled to comply with its payment obligations,” Lifland wrote.

The case is In re Johns Manville Corp., 82-11656, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).