19 janvier, 2006 20:16
Federal Judge OKs McDermott's Multimillion-Dollar Asbestos Injury Settlement
A judge has approved McDermott International Inc.'s plan to settle as many as 300,000 asbestos injury claims with a price tag that will range from $375 million to $955 million for the company, depending on whether Congress creates a national trust fund to handle all such cases.
U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance signed off on the agreement Tuesday, contained in a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the Babcock & Wilcox Co., a wholly owned McDermott unit that has been the target of asbestos claims.
Babcock & Wilcox once used asbestos, which has been tied to lung disorders, to insulate boilers. McDermott, an energy services company, put the unit under bankruptcy protection in February 2000 after the potential cost of the claims skyrocketed.
In 2002, New Orleans-based McDermott took a $224.7 million write-off for its investment in Babcock & Wilcox and removed the unit from its financial statements.
Congress currently is considering the establishment of a $140 billion trust fund to compensate people sickened by exposure to asbestos, a bill that has been described by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., as the GOP-controlled Senate's first priority this year.
The trust fund would be set up in exchange for a ban on the multimillion dollar lawsuits brought by people with asbestos-related diseases. The fund would be paid for by companies being sued for asbestos exposure and their insurers.
McDermott spokesman Jay Roueche said Wednesday that the Babcock & Wilcox settlement calls for $1.1 billion in insurance payments and a $350 million payment from McDermott to a separate trust fund handling the B&W case, regardless of the federal bill's fate.
If the bill is not passed by Nov. 30, McDermott will pay an additional $350 million along with a $250 million note, Roueche said. If the bill is passed by Nov. 30, McDermott will pay only an additional $25 million, he said.
McDermott plans to keep B&W and reconsolidate it into its financial reports, Roueche said.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1137578711278
