Flexitallic Gasket Company was founded in 1912 when its predecessor company relocated to New Jersey from England. Flexitallic manufactured a specific type of asbestos-containing product, the spiral wound gasket, and it was the only company producing this product for the next three decades.
Asbestos tape used in the gaskets made the product a dangerous one. Ads for Flexitallic products list Canadian asbestos and “Blue African” asbestos, or crocidolite, as two of the fiber types that were included in the manufacture of its gaskets.
During World War II, Flexitallic gaskets were used in U.S. Navy ships which needed to retain steam to operate at full power.
Occupations that were at risk of exposure to asbestos from Flexitallic asbestos spiral wound gaskets were boilermakers, repairmen for steam equipment, engine room workers on ships, and factory workers.
Some military veterans may have been exposed to asbestos from Flexitallic products as well, depending on their job and when they served.
In 1970, Flexitallic was purchased by a successor to Turner & Newall, Ltd., a British company, known as T&N PLC.
In 1997, T&N PLC sold off Flexitallic to another gasket company; a year later, T&N PLC was purchased by Federal-Mogul.
When Flexitallic was sold in 1997, T&N retained mounting asbestos liability claims which spelled financial ruin for the company. In 1998, when Federal-Mogul bought T&N, it agreed to inherit the debt attached to these claims.
That’s why Federal-Mogul, on behalf of Flexitallic and T&N, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 1, 2001. A bankruptcy trust was formed in 2007, and Federal-Mogul established a sub-fund specifically for Flexitallic claims. The trust began accepting claims in August of 2010.
In 2021, 31,095 Flexitallic claims were filed with the T&N Subfund of the Federal-Mogul Asbestos Trust, according to its annual financial report.
Of these claims, 13,432 were for Flexitallic, and 3,428 of those were paid in 2021. At the time, the payment percentage was 8.5%; as of 2022, it is 5.9%.
The report also details that it paid $44,000,000 in total claims in 2021, contributing to the $447,800,000 the T&N Subfund of the Trust has paid since it was established.
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