Fund set up for asbestos victims

(Editor's Note: This story has been altered. An Owens Corning settlement fund to compensate victims of asbestos-induced illness is open to anyone who became seriously ill from exposure to asbestos at a job site where Owens Corning's products were used or to spouses of those who died from exposure. The headline on the original version of this story misstated who may seek compensation from that fund.)

As many as 2,000 Puget Sound-area residents suffering from asbestos-induced illness could be compensated under a settlement reached earlier this week with bankrupt building material maker Owens Corning, a Seattle attorney involved in the settlement said.

This region's shipbuilding, aluminum smeltering and wood-product industries all heavily used asbestos, said the attorney, Matthew Bergman.

"These industries employed thousands of workers in Washington state from the 1940s through the 1970s," he said.

"As a result, Washington has the second-highest rate of asbestos-related cancer in the nation."

To recover, claimants must be seriously ill from exposure to asbestos at a job site where Owens Corning's products were used. The spouses of people killed by exposure can also recover.

About 200,000 claims likely will be filed nationwide, said Bergman, who is one of seven lawyers nationwide overseeing the distribution of the settlement trust to asbestos victims.

Asbestos causes several diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. They can develop 20 years after exposure to asbestos, making it difficult to predict exactly how many people will share in the settlement fund.

Until the late 1970s, asbestos was also a common ingredient in joint compounds and in ceiling and wall textures -- products widely used in commercial and residential construction and in home remodeling projects.

People working with or around products containing asbestos may have taken the deadly fibers home on their clothing, thereby exposing other family members.

The settlement fund was created Monday when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith Fitzgerald agreed to confirm Owen Corning's $5.1 billion Chapter 11 plan for emerging from bankruptcy.

Almost six years has elapsed since the Toledo, Ohio-based company sought protection from creditors over health claims related to its asbestos products.

The plan, filed in December, follows years of litigation between asbestos claimants, owners of the company's bank debt and others.

Owens Corning sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000 to shield itself from claims for billions of dollars in health-related damages linked to asbestos products it made decades ago.

The plan shifts Owens Corning's $7 billion in asbestos liabilities off company books and into a trust to be established for the plaintiffs. As part of the plan, the company will pay $5.1 billion to asbestos claimants and as much as $2.27 billion to holders of bank debt.

FYI

Two law firms in the Puget Sound region specialize in helping Owens Corning asbestos victims obtain compensation. Attorneys representing claimants will take a percentage of the recovery as a fee.

The firms are:

Bergman & Frockt (206-957-9510, www.bergmanlegal.com)

Schroeter, Goldmark & Bender, P.S. (206-622-8000 ).

This report includes information from The Associated Press. P-I reporter Dan Richman can be reached at 206-448-8032 or danrichman@seattlepi.com.

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