アスベスト（石綿）被害者の集団訴訟に対して、連邦破産法第11条の保護を求めた企業もある（製紙用資材メーカーのジョンズ・マンビル、断熱材メーカーのセロテックス、グラスファイバー製品大手のオーエンス・コーニング、内装材大手のアームストロング・ワールド・インダストリーズなど）。
OWENS CORNING FILES
VOLUNTARY CHAPTER 11 PETITION TO RESOLVE ASBESTOS LIABILITY
All Operations Open and Focused on Customer Service
http://www.owenscorning.com/finre/release.html
Owens Corning (NYSE:OWC)
today announced that, in order to address the growing demands on
its cash flow resulting from its multi-billion dollar asbestos
liability, the company has voluntarily filed for
reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
The filing, made today in Wilmington, Delaware, will enable Owens
Corning to refocus on operating its business and serving its
customers, while it develops a plan of reorganization that will
resolve its asbestos and other liabilities and provide a suitable
capital structure for long-term growth.
Owens Corning also announced that, in order to enhance its
liquidity, it has obtained a $500 million debtor-in-possession
financing commitment from Bank of America. Upon court approval,
these funds will be available to the company to help meet its
future needs and fulfill obligations associated with operating
its business, including payment under normal terms to suppliers
and vendors for all goods and services that are provided after
today's filing. Employees will continue to be paid in the normal
manner and their health benefits, as well as those of retirees,
will not be disrupted. The company's pension plan for retirees
and vested employees is fully funded and protected by federal
law.
All of Owens Corning's U.S. operating subsidiaries and certain
other U.S. subsidiaries filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions
today. None of the company's other subsidiaries, joint ventures
and affiliates, including all operations located outside the
United States, are included in the filing.
Glen H. Hiner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Owens
Corning, said, "We are voluntarily taking this difficult but
necessary action today to resolve the company's asbestos
liabilities in a manner that legally binds all existing and
future claimants. With the Chapter 11 process we can finally put
this difficult issue behind us in a fair and responsible manner
and move forward with our resources and energies focused on
competing successfully in the global marketplace."
Mr. Hiner continued, "Owens Corning today is a sound
company, with over $5 billion in annual revenues and leadership
positions in all of its businesses. All of our operations are
open today and focused on serving our customers. The combination
of our cash on hand, existing cash flow and a new $500 million
financing commitment provides the company sufficient liquidity to
meet all future financial obligations to employees, suppliers and
vendors."
Owens Corning's cost reduction programs and System Thinking^(TM)
marketing initiatives in recent years have been successful in
enabling the company to enhance its competitive position. Despite
this success, the increasing asbestos liabilities and difficulty
of estimating its future asbestos liabilities, especially the
costs of settling current and future mesothelioma claims,
required the company to consider a range of strategic and
financial alternatives.
Mr. Hiner said, "We have been attempting to manage this
liability for more than two decades. Our goal has been to
compensate fairly any individual impaired through the use of our
products, while continuing to operate our business in the best
interests of all of our constituencies, including customers,
employees and shareholders. Until very recently, we thought
Chapter 11 could be avoided. First we tried to resolve cases in
individual out-of-court settlements, and then we sought
legislative and judicial relief. Finally, we made substantial
progress in the management of our asbestos liability with our
National Settlement Program (NSP). However, the cost of resolving
current and future claims, together with a flurry of recent new
filings from plaintiff lawyers not participating in the NSP, led
us to the conclusion that a Chapter 11 reorganization was prudent
and necessary."
Owens Corning had previously noted that its ability to meet its
schedule of asbestos related payments and meet its obligations to
the banks under its credit agreement depended, in part, on its
results from operations not deteriorating significantly. The fall
in demand for building material products, which reflects in large
part increased interest rates, combined with elevated energy and
raw materials costs and the inability to fully recapture these
costs in price adjustments, has significantly reduced the
company's margins and income from operations.
The company expects to report its earnings for the third quarter
of 2000 in a Form 10- Q scheduled to be filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on November 14, 2000.
Due to the Chapter 11 filing, the company will not be making the
quarterly dividend payment scheduled for October 13, 2000 to
shareholders of record as of September 30, 2000. In addition, the
company will not be making any interest or other payments on its
unsecured debt securities or payments to asbestos claimants for
the duration of the Chapter 11 proceeding.
Owens Corning's asbestos liability arises from a high-temperature
pipe insulation product trade-named Kaylo, which it distributed and/or
manufactured from 1952 to 1972. The company's total revenues from
the sale of this product were approximately $135 million. Owens
Corning is a co-defendant with other former manufacturers,
distributors and installers of products containing asbestos in
personal injury litigation. To date, the company has received more than 460,000
asbestos personal injury claims and has paid or agreed to pay more than
$5 billion
for asbestos-related awards and settlements, legal expenses and
claims processing fees.
The company noted that 22 other companies involved in
asbestos-related activity have commenced reorganization cases
under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Like many of these
other companies, Owens Corning intends to use the special
provisions of Chapter 11 relating to the resolution of asbestos
claims as a process through which all asbestos claims will be
evaluated and resolved with no contingent liability remaining for
the company.
Owens Corning is a world leader in building materials systems and
composites systems. The company has sales of $5 billion and
employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide. Additional
information is available on Owens Corning's Web site at http://www.owenscorning.com
or by calling the company's toll-free General Information line:
1-877-799-6904.
Johns-Manville
Corporation
http://www.scripophily.net/joconewyo19.html
In August 1982,
Johns-Manville Corporation filed a petition for
reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code which automatically suspended all
personal injury lawsuits and allowed Manville Corporation
("Manville") to reorganize, thus preserving its
financial viability to compensate asbestos claimants.
In December 1986, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the
Southern District of New York approved Manville's Plan of
Reorganization ( the "Plan"). A cornerstone of the Plan
was the
creation of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust (the "Trust") to
compensate individuals suffering personal injury from exposure to
asbestos or asbestos-containing products manufactured or sold by
Manville. Following several appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit confirmed the Plan on October 28, 1988.
The Trust became operational thirty days later on November 28,
1988.
The Trust was created as an independent organization to
distribute funds as equitably as possible while balancing the
rights of current claimants against those of future, unknown
claimants. The Trust's mission is to "enhance and preserve
the Trust estate" in order to "deliver fair, adequate
and equitable compensation to (claimants), whether known or
unknown." The Trust was established as a negotiation based
settlement organization pursuant to Plan provisions which made it
clear that claimants did not need to litigate or threaten to
litigate in order to negotiate a fair settlement.
Start up Operations of the Trust
Although not confirmed until October 1988, the Trust began
operating in January of 1987, following the bankruptcy court's
appointment of trustees. During the first seven months of 1987,
several consulting organizations assisted the trustees in
handling a range of complex issues and developing a strategy for
responding to the impending deluge of claims. In October 1987,
the trustees hired an executive director, and within six months,
the Trust had hired and trained nearly ninety-five employees and
was prepared to settle claims.
In May 1988, the Trust began to negotiate settlements of the
cases filed against Manville before August 1982, all of which had
been stayed by the bankruptcy proceeding. Upon consummation of
the Plan on November 28, 1988, the Trust was authorized to begin
paying these pre-bankruptcy claims, subject to certain
conditions, including the receipt of an individual proof of claim
form and a signed release from each claimant. As of December 31,
1988, the Trust had settled over 12,600 claims for almost $500
million and had paid 1,200 claimants over $50 million. Claims
were paid 100% of settlement value in first-in, first-out (FIFO)
order. By mid-1989, an additional 48,500 post-bankruptcy claim
forms had been received. By January 1992 more than 190,000
claimants were seeking compensation from theTrust.
Settlement vs. Litigation
Although some litigation against the Trust was contemplated by
the crafters of the Plan, it was recognized that substantial
litigation against the Trust would be operationally unmanageable
and financially detrimental. The Plan authors wanted the Trust to
be a negotiation-based settlement organization. However, three
factors led to the Trust's inundation with active litigation. The
first was purely operational: the Plan permitted claimants to sue
the Trust 120 days after filing their claims if they had not
received a settlement offer. Because the Trust had received such
an enormous volume of claims and was unable to make offers on all
of them within 120 days, many claimants exercised their right to
sue in order to improve their position in the FIFO queue.
The second factor influencing the volume of litigation was an
acceleration in the volume of cases tried in the courts compared
to the relative handful of asbestos cases that came to trial
during the mid-1980s. On the 240th day after Consummation, July
28, 1989, co-defendants in the asbestos litigation were permitted
to implead the Trust as a third party in the ongoing litigation.
By December 1989 the Trust had been impleaded in and was forced
to defend 89,000 cases nationwide. This unprecedented volume had
not been anticipated, and the Plan did not allow modification of
the Trust's operations to accommodate the problem.
Finally, as the Trust's initial cash funding dwindled and it
became readily apparent that its assets were insufficient to pay
its liabilities, the "race to the courthouse" became a
stampede.
Bankruptcy Court Intervention
In July 1990, the Honorable Jack B. Weinstein, U.S. District
Judge for the Eastern District of New York, was granted
jurisdiction over the Trust. Judge Weinstein issued a stay on all
Trust payments except exigent health and financial hardship
settlements. During the next five months Manville Corporation,
court-appointed representatives of current and future claimants,
and the Trust, negotiated a restructured financial agreement and
claims settlement process.
In November 1990, the Trust was judicially determined to be a
"limited fund" and a class action designed to
reorganize the Trust claims settlement and payment process was
filed in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. A
settlement of the class action was approved by Judge Weinstein in
June 1991 (Findley v. Blinken, 129 B.R. 710 (E. & S.D.N.Y.
1991). In December 1992, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
vacated and remanded the case to Judge Weinstein for further
negotiations (Findley v. Blinken, 928 F.2d 721; modified, 993
F.2d 7 (2nd Cir. 1993).
New Operational Mandates -- the TDP Following remand,
negotiations continued through 1993 and the first half of 1994 (
the case name changed to Findley v. Falise), and in July 1994, a
new settlement was reached. Fairness hearings were held during
November. On January 19, 1995, Judge Weinstein approved the class
action settlement which altered the Trust's claim settlement and
distribution process. In re Johns-Manville Corporation, 878
F.Supp. 473 (E. & S.D.N.Y. 1995). The settlement, which
included a revised Trust Distribution Process (the
"TDP"), requires that the Trust's assets be distributed
to qualifying claimants on a pro rata share basis computed to
equalize payments to present and future claimants at an initial
level of 10% of total liquidated claim value. Claims are paid on
a scheduled basis in accordance with seven disease categories,
but claimants can refuse the Trust's schedule-based offer and
request individual evaluation and eventually ADR.
The settlement provided that the TDP would go into effect on
February 21, 1995 unless the order was stayed. Though appeals
were filed, no stay was granted and the Trust implemented the TDP
procedures effective February 21, 1995. The Trust is still
waiting for the Second Circuit to rule on the outstanding
appeals, but strongly believes the settlement plan will
ultimately be approved.
As of December 31, 1995, approximately 10 months following
District Court approval of the class action settlement, the Trust
had made offers or sent deficiency notices to 103,551 claimants,
and had settled and paid over 55,000 claimants in excess of $270
million.
(As of December 31, 1995, the Trust had received over 280,000
claims. The Plan predicted the Trust would receive between 83,000
and 100,000 claims during the life of the Trust.)