Findley v. Blinken

830 F. Supp. 676
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJuly 27, 1993
DocketNo. CV 90-3973; Index No. 4000
StatusPublished

This text of 830 F. Supp. 676 (Findley v. Blinken) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Findley v. Blinken, 830 F. Supp. 676 (E.D.N.Y. 1993).

Opinion

AMENDED MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Before WEINSTEIN, Senior District Judge, and BURTON R. LIFLAND, Chief Bankruptcy Judge.

The Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust (the Trust) seeks to make substantial payments immediately, under terms that will save large sums for most current and future claimants, for asbestos-related injuries to judgment creditors and those who have long-settled cases. For the reasons set out below the proposal is approved. It is essential that those who are hurting from asbestos-related illnesses, many of whom have been waiting years to be made whole, obtain payment quickly. Because the Trust has been receiving substantial payments from the Manville Corporation pursuant to the courts’ prior orders, there is enough cash on hand to support these proposed expenditures of Trust funds. It is time to pay.

I. HISTORY OF THE LITIGATION

The long history of the Manville phase of asbestos litigation, now spanning more than a decade, has been described in detail. See In re Joint E. & S. Dists. Asbestos Litig., 982 F.2d 721, 725-32 (2d Cir.1992), modified on rehearing sub nom., In re Findley, 993 F.2d 7 (2d Cir.1993); In re Joint E. & S. Dists. Asbestos Litig., 129 B.R. 710, 734-76 (E. & S.D.N.Y.1991). This history is summarized chronologically as follows:

1920-1970 The Johns-Manville Corporation is the largest manufacturer of asbestos-containing products and the largest supplier of asbestos in the United States. It fails to adequately warn asbestos workers of known dangers.
August 26, 1982 Fear of burgeoning asbestos-related tort claims, which it estimates at over $1 billion, causes the Johns-Manville Corporation to file for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.
August 1986 The Second Amended and Restated Plan of Reorganization (the Plan) is presented to the Bankruptcy Court. In re Johns-Manville Corp., 66 [678]*678B.R. 517 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1986). It creates the Trust and funds it with various assets of the debtor corporation and stock and profits of its successor, the Manville Corporation.
December 1986 The Plan is confirmed. In re Johns-Manville Corp., 68 B.R. 618 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1986). The Bankruptcy Court issues an injunction requiring all asbestos claimants with health claims against the Johns-Manville Corporation to proceed against the Trust, first by attempting settlement and then by opting for mediation or tort litigation. The Manville Corporation continues the business of the debtor insulated by an injunction preventing asbestos claimants from proceeding against it or its assets. Appeals follow.
March 30, 1988 Challenges to the Plan are rejected by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Kane v. Johns-Manville Corp., 843 F.2d 636 (2d Cir.1988).
November 28, 1988 The Plan is executed and delivered and the Trust becomes operative. Asbestos-related claims against the Trust can now proceed. Even before its first payment, the Trust and plaintiffs’ counsel are aware that the Trust will have troughs in funding.
1988-1990 The Trust processes claims. In some instances it agrees to large block settlements with single plaintiffs’ firms that commit tens of millions of dollars from the Trust’s limited assets. See In re Joint E. & S. Dists. Asbestos Litig., 129 B.R. 710, 754-58 (E. & S.D.N.Y.1991). The clear insufficiency of Trust assets creates a strong incentive for plaintiffs’ attorneys to secure early settlements and judgments. The Trust’s in-house operational costs and outside legal fees approach $100 million per year. Many settlements include provisions for deferred payment in unwarranted hopes that future profits of the Manville Corporation due to the Trust will be available to satisfy the Trust’s obligations.
March 1990 The Trust has received more than 150,000 asbestos claims, 50 percent more than the highest estimate at the time of the Plan’s approval. 22,386 of these claims have been settled at an average value of higher than was originally estimated. The Trust is effectively without funds to meet its current and short-term obligations.
March 31, 1990 The Trust announces a revised payment plan for settlements and judgments under which 40 percent would be paid 90 days after the end of the first year in which the claimant would be eligible for payment under the Trust’s first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue, and the remaining 60 percent would be paid after another five years. This plan is illusory.
July 9, 1990 Acting pursuant to their authority to withdraw a bankruptcy case in whole or in part from the Bankruptcy Court, the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York issue an order staying payments by the Trust of judgments, settlements and legal fees.
September 18,1990 Marvin E. Frankel is appointed as a special master and direct ed to hold hearings and report on the financial condition of the Trust and whether there exists a substantial probability that continued payment of damage awards will exhaust its assets.
November 3, 1990 Special Master Frankel reports that the Trust is “deeply insolvent,” estimates that the value of claims will exceed projected assets by at least three times, and states that the Trust lacks the cash required to pay the then liquidated total of $448.5 million in claims. Intensive negotiations under the courts’ direction ensue for the creation of a revised Trust Distribution Process.
November 19, 1990 Plaintiffs file, in the District Courts and the Bankruptcy Court, a limited-fund class action complaint against the trustees of the Trust seeking a revision of the payment procedures to promote equitable compensation of all Trust beneficiaries. Counsel submit the same day a stipulation of [679]*679settlement of that class action, including a revised Trust Distribution Process.
November 23, 1990 The courts conditionally certify the class; appoint representative counsel, including a representative of future claimants; set fairness hearings; approve a form of notice; .and stay all payments by the Trust and all proceedings against it.
November 1990-February 1991 Notice of the class certification and copies of the courts’ orders are provided to counsel for all known represented claimants, to 1,500 pro se claimants, to all courts in which the Trust is a party to litigation and to other interested persons, including publication in 11 major newspapers. Fairness hearings are held over eight days in four cities.
December 7, 1990 Professor Margaret E. Berger is appointed pursuant to Rule 706 of the Federal Rules of Evidence to consider the creation of a panel of experts to evaluate and predict the volume and type of future claimants.

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830 F. Supp. 676, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/findley-v-blinken-nyed-1993.