Owens Corning Fiberglass Corporation (OC) was formed in 1938 as a partnership between glassworks companies Owens-Illinois and Corning Glass Works. In the 1940’s, OC began to distribute and install asbestos insulation products made by other companies.
In 1943, Owens-Illinois began developing an asbestos insulation product originally known as K-lo, which was meant to communicate that the product had a low “K Factor.” A product’s “K factor” is the measure of heat that passes through one square foot of one-inch-thick material in an hour.
The product name was changed to Kaylo.
Kaylo 10 was intended to insulate up to 1200 degrees and was approximately 5% amosite asbestos and 10% chrysotile asbestos.
Another Kaylo product, called Kaylo 20, was intended to insulate up to 1800 degrees and was approximately 13% amosite asbestos and 7% chrysotile asbestos.
In 1948, The Saranac Laboratory wrote the following to Owens-Illinois: “I realize that our findings regarding Kaylo are less favorable than anticipated. However, since Kaylo is capable of producing asbestosis, it is better to discover it now in animals rather than later in industrial workers.”
Owens-Illinois brought the product to market anyway and sold it from 1953 to 1958.
In 1958, Owens-Corning purchased the Kaylo factory in Berlin, NJ and began manufacturing and selling Kaylo. It was available from 1958 to 1972.
Owens Corning started facing asbestos injury lawsuits in the late 1960’s. In 1997, it purchased Fibreboard and acquired around $85 million in debt from even more asbestos litigation.
OC filed its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy petition on October 5, 2000, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. It was reportedly named in over 230,000 asbestos injury lawsuits at the time of filing.
A combined bankruptcy trust with Fibreboard Company was formed in 2006 and began accepting claims in 2007. It’s called the Owens-Corning/Fibreboard Company Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust and was funded with nearly $5 billion.
The payment percentage in 2021 was 7.8%, meaning individuals received 7.8% of the values on the scheduled payment value table.
In 2021, 14,829 claims were filed against the trust. The trust paid 15,652 claims with many of those having been filed prior to 2021.
$58 million dollars was paid to 5,096 individuals who had cancer and to 10,556 individuals who had asbestosis or pleural disease.
The trust still has $974 million remaining for the payment of claims, with a little over $63 million for Owens Corning-specific claims.
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 http://www.AsbestosClaims.law.
Email directly at help@asbestosclaims.law.
Or call anytime at (833) 4-ASBESTOS (427-2378).
