The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) was incorporated in 1881 after years of a partnership between 2 gentlemen named George Babcock and Stephen Wilcox. Wilcox had received a patent for the first water-tube steam boiler more than 10 years prior.
The company had a strong relationship with the U.S. government through the manufacture of B&W boilers for U.S. Navy ships for over 100 years.
In addition to boilers, B&W manufactured generators, furnaces, and other types of high-temperature equipment.
Once the equipment was purchased and running on a ship, in a factory, or in a power plant, the workers responsible for the repair and maintenance of that equipment would be exposed to asbestos during their work.
B&W is among the companies that frequently relied on military specifications as an excuse for the inclusion of dangerous, asbestos-containing component parts in its equipment decades after the hazards of the ingredient were made known.
B&W had plants that used asbestos in seven (7) different states around the country: Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
Babcock & Wilcox began to face increasing asbestos personal injury lawsuits in the 1980s. Over the next 20 years, it would settle more than 300,000 claims, which cost the company a great deal of money.
On February 22, 2000, B&W filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, along with affiliates Diamond Power International, Inc., Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co., Inc., and Americon, Inc.
The Babcock & Wilcox Asbestos Trust was established in 2006 with roughly $1 billion in funding.
According to the most recently available financial report filed by the company in 2021, 14,138 claims were filed with the Babcock & Wilcox Trust that year. Since its founding, the trust has paid over 2 million claims.
The report also details that $28,860,000 was paid out in claims in 2021, adding to the estimated $1,876,000,000 the Trust has paid since it was established.
As of August 2021, the payment percentage was 6.3%. This means that qualified claimants will receive 6.3% of the set value designated by the trust for their specific injury.
We’ve helped thousands of people receive the compensation they deserve for their asbestos injuries. Let us help you. You can contact asbestos attorney Justinian C. Lane at Asbestos Claims Law via his website at https://www.AsbestosClaims.law.
Email directly at help@asbestosclaims.law.
Or call anytime at (833) 4-ASBESTOS (427-2378).
