Were you exposed to asbestos in your work with Corning Corporation? Or were you exposed to asbestos by working with Corning products? If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. Keep reading to learn how to file an asbestos claim against Corning Corporation.
Corning Corporation and Its Asbestos History
From 1950 until the early 1970s, Corning Corporation, which eventually merged to become the Dow Corning Corporation, often added asbestos to its cement, pipe insulation, ceiling tiles, and mastic. It also had asbestos in its ducts, equipment and cold storage products.
Owns Corning was the first firm to make fiberglass insulation and it quickly became the most popular type of home insulation. Owens Corning is now the biggest fiberglass manufacturer in the world.
In 1997, Owens Corning bought Fibreboard Corporation, which made several insulation and construction products that contained asbestos. This purchase made Owens Corning liable for any injuries that were caused by the asbestos products made by Fibreboard.
Own Corning started to see asbestos lawsuits in the 1970s. Over the next 30 years, it was sued in hundreds of thousands of asbestos claims. By 2000, it had settled with more than 400,000 people who said Corning’s products cause them to get mesothelioma.
Workers at Risk of Asbestos Exposure
Corning Corporation’s employees who made asbestos-containing materials had the highest risk of asbestos exposure. Anyone who was employed at one of the firm’s factories was at a higher risk of asbestos exposure because the deadly dust could circulate throughout the factory.
Unfortunately, the risk of asbestos was not restricted to just Corning’s workers. Any company that bought their products and used them on projects exposed their own workers to asbestos. These included:
- Construction workers
- Demolition crews
- Drywall workers
- Sheetrock workers
- Plasterers
- Pipefitters
- Painters
- Carpenters
- Insulators
- Cement workers
- Acoustic workers
- Building maintenance workers
Insulators who worked on residences, commercial buildings and industrial settings may have handled insulation that contained asbestos. The pipe insulation made by the firm also was often used in the US Navy. That is why shipyard workers and Navy crew members were at high risk of exposure to pipe insulation that contained asbestos.
Owens Corning Products Containing Asbestos
Corning Corporation workers, especially those in the insulation field, were at high risk of developing mesothelioma. Some of the most hazardous products included:
- Kaylo Heat Insulating Block
- Kaylo Pipe Insulation
- Kaylo Duct Insulation
- Kaylo Equipment Insulation
- Kaylo Cold Storage Systems
- Kaylo Insulating Roof Tile
- Ceiling Tile
- One Cote Cement
- Insulating Cement
- Finishing Cement
- Type II Mastic
- Ready Mix
Owens Corning Asbestos Trust
The company tried several ways to avoid going bankrupt. In 1998, it decided to combine 175,000 asbestos lawsuits into the National Settlement Program. It attempted to settle them all for $1.2 billion. But the program grew to at least 237,000 claims. In 2000, about 10,000 claims were filed for asbestos exposure in just the third quarter. Owens Corning stated that it could not handle the debt and it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2000.
SEE ALSO: Mesothelioma Lawsuit After Death
Part of the firm’s reorganization plan involved creating the Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos Personal Injury Trust in 2006. This asbestos trust fund had $5 billion in it initially to pay victims of Owens Corning and Fibreboard Corp. As of 2008, the trust had paid at least $1.4 billion in claims.
In 2011, Owens Corning sold 7 million shares of stock and all of the proceeds went into the trust. The payment percentages today are 7.8% for Ownes Corning claims and 6.7% for Fibreboard claims.
Corning Corporation Asbestos Lawsuits
The first asbestos lawsuits against Owens Corning were in 1978 when two workers at shipyards with asbestosis diagnosis filed a class-action asbestos cancer lawsuit on behalf of 5,000 other workers.
The lawsuit was filed against Owens Corning and other manufacturers of products that contain asbestos. The lawsuit alleged that all of the companies knew about asbestos dangers as early as 1938 but did not warn workers about the dangers of being exposed to asbestos.
SEE ALSO: Asbestos Death Claims Payout Timeline
By 1990, Owens Corning was defending itself in 84,500 asbestos-related claims. When it went bankrupt, Owens Corning had been named in more than 243,000 asbestos-related claims.
In one major case in 1997, a jury in Florida awarded Deward Ballard $30 million in punitive damages and $1.8 million in compensatory damages after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma from working with the company’s products. The court found that Owens Corning had hidden information about asbestos hazards for three decades.
Get Mesothelioma Legal Help Immediately
With over $30 billion available for victims through the Asbestos Trust Funds, you could be entitled to financial compensations without ever filing a lawsuit. Mesothelioma & Lung Cancer victims qualify immediately. Complete the form or call us toll free (800) 352-0871.