01. History of Asbestos Use
Combustion Engineering History of Asbestos Use
For more than 40 years, Combustion Engineering made steam boilers with asbestos insulation. Its history of asbestos use resulted in hundreds of thousands of lawsuits. The company’s asbestos liabilities ultimately pushed it into bankruptcy. In 2006, it finalized a plan to establish an asbestos trust fund to pay all current and future claims.
Established in 1914, Combustion Engineering began making boilers in the 1930s. The company used asbestos insulation in its boilers and sold them throughout the country.
Asbestos is a heat-resistant mineral, useful for heat-generating products like boilers. But it can also lead to the development of serious diseases like mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Combustion Engineering struggled through its early years as an asbestos company. But World War II reversed its fortunes. The company aided the war effort by producing boilers for transportation steamships. Merchant Mariners and others working around boilers on these ships may have experienced asbestos exposure.
Starting in the 1960s, asbestos victims began filing lawsuits against Combustion Engineering. They claimed exposure from the company’s boilers led them to develop asbestos diseases.
In 1989, Combustion Engineering became a subsidiary of Swiss company ABB Ltd. In 2002, asbestos victims filed more than 79,000 lawsuits against Combustion Engineering. In February 2003, Combustion Engineering filed for bankruptcy.
The company emerged from bankruptcy with a trust fund in 2006. They created it to handle all current and future asbestos claims. In 2015, General Electric (GE) purchased the company and folded it into GE Power.
As it stands, GE Power owns the company’s technology. They also offer repairs for Combustion Engineering boilers. The trust fund continues to compensate eligible victims today.
Resources for Mesothelioma Patients
02. Asbestos Products
Combustion Engineering Asbestos Products
Combustion Engineering made boilers insulated with asbestos from the 1930s through the 1960s. Awareness of the dangers of asbestos exposure continued to grow during this time.
Despite troubling medical evidence, many companies continued to use asbestos to insulate products. Combustion Engineering is no exception. Eventually, it stopped making asbestos products, but many of its older boilers may still be in use.
03. Occupational Exposure
Combustion Engineering and Occupational Exposure
Jobsites with Combustion Engineering boilers may result in occupational asbestos exposure for workers. The company’s boilers were used at a wide range of sites throughout the country. In these settings, people often inhaled asbestos dust. This can lead to the development of mesothelioma.
Some Combustion Engineering locations (like its Windsor plant) are a big part of its area’s history. But these sites may have led to asbestos exposure for many workers and residents.
The Combustion Engineering trust fund lists thousands of jobsites and ships where exposure occurred. These locations range from CertainTeed Corporation to General Motors to Johns-Manville. They also include shipping companies like Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Shipyard, Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company and Ingalls Shipyard.
The company’s boilers were also present at many military bases and other military buildings, including:
- Dover Air Force Base
- Grand Forks Air Force Base
- Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
- McClellan Air Force Base
- Norfolk Naval Shipyard
- Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
- Portsmouth Air Force Base
- Veterans hospitals
Combustion Engineering boilers may have exposed veterans and military personnel at these locations.
Some workers may have faced higher levels and frequencies of exposure. This includes mechanics who performed repair work. But any level of asbestos exposure is dangerous. In some cases, workers may also have carried asbestos dust home on their clothes or in their hair. Household members exposed to asbestos secondhand may also develop asbestos diseases.
04. Asbestos Lawsuits
Asbestos Lawsuits Against Combustion Engineering
Combustion Engineering was first named in an asbestos lawsuit in the 1960s. For the next 40 years, the company faced upwards of a billion dollars in asbestos liabilities. Its parent company marked $940 million for expected legal costs leading up to its 2003 bankruptcy filing.
Some cases against Combustion Engineering have resulted in settlements. A settlement is an agreement where a company pays an asbestos victim a specified sum to end the lawsuit. In 1988, for instance, Combustion Engineering settled a case with a Bethlehem Steel worker who died from asbestos cancer.
Often, asbestos settlements are private agreements. In general, compensation amounts are not available to the public. But industry experts calculate the average mesothelioma settlement to be $1 – $1.4 million.
Asbestos lawsuits that go to trial may result in jury verdicts. In 2002, a court of appeals affirmed a $1.05 million mesothelioma verdict in favor of a machinist’s widow. Her husband worked on Combustion Engineering boilers at a Wisconsin Electric Power Company plant. Evidence at trial showed the presence of asbestos dust clouds in the area around the boilers.
Post-bankruptcy, asbestos legal actions no longer go through the court system. They are now processed by the company’s asbestos trust fund.
05. Asbestos Trust Fund
Combustion Engineering Asbestos PI Trust Fund
In 2006, the company placed more than $1 billion into the Combustion Engineering 524(g) Asbestos PI Trust. A company creates this type of personal injury (PI) trust fund to pay out the asbestos claims it faces. The legal structure guarantees some compensation to all current and future claimants.
The current payment percentage for successful claims is 20%.
When someone makes a claim, they can be compensated up to a certain percentage of that claim. This rate is known as the payment percentage, and it can fluctuate over time.
In 2022 alone, the trust paid out more than 14,000 claims. Many factors can affect a claim’s final payout. A victim’s age, occupation, disease severity and a firm’s settlement history can all affect the payout.
Asbestos attorneys are available to help file claims. They can also help you explore more options for compensation.
