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53 Law & Contemp. Probs. 27 (1990)
Resolving Asbestos Claims: The Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust

handle is hein.journals/lcp53 and id is 873 raw text is: RESOLVING ASBESTOS CLAIMS: THE MANVILLE PERSONAL INJURY SETTLEMENT TRUST MARIANNA S. SMITH* I INTRODUCTION There was no precedent for the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust (Trust). A grantor trust, its genesis, birth, and evolution were influenced by-and its operation is still influenced by-many groups with differing agendas: the Manville Corporation, multiple federal and state courts, legal experts, investment bankers, victims' groups, plaintiffs' attorneys, Trust staff, and other trusts. The development and evolution of the Trust were further affected by a myriad of state and federal laws on, inter alia, trusts, securities regulation, contracts, fiduciary responsibility, bankruptcy, and civil procedure. These often conflicting constituencies and laws were forced into a compromise peace during the upheaval of the Johns-Manville Corporation' chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.2 The Trust, an independent organization, was created by the bankruptcy court to distribute funds as equitably as possible while balancing the rights of Copyright © 1990 by Law and Contemporary Problems * Executive Director, Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust. This article was last revised in February 1991. In May 1991,Judge Jack B. Weinstein issued an order restructuring the finances and operating procedures of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust. 1. In 1988 the Johns-Manville Corporation was renamed The Manville Corporation, and will be referred to hereafter as Manville. 2. In December 1986, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved a plan of reorganization (Plan) for the Manville Corporation and related entities. See In the Matter ofjohns-Manville Corporation, 68 Bankr 618 (Bankr SD NY 1986). See also Manville Corporation Second Amended and Restated Plan of Reorganization and Related Documents as Executed and Consummated at Plan Consummation C-80 to C- 135 (November 28, 1988) (containing the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust Agreement) (Second Amended Plan). A cornerstone of the Plan was the creation of the Trust to compensate individuals suffering personal injury from exposure to asbestos or asbestos-containing products sold by the Manville Corporation. Following several appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit confirmed the Plan on October 28, 1988. 843 F2d 636 (2d Cir 1988). The Trust became operational thirty days later on November 28, 1988. Although Manville Corporation has not manufactured asbestos products since 1974 (with the exception of certain specialty products for the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics Space Administration), asbestos-related diseases, such as asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma, can have substantial latency periods before symptoms appear. Thus, millions of American workers who were exposed to harmful asbestos fibers while asbestos was produced may only now be developing asbestos-related diseases.

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