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Claims Against Bankrupt Asbestos Manufacturers

In the early 1980's, the Johns Manville Corporation, a former manufacturer and producer of asbestos and asbestos containing products, filed a bankruptcy petition for reorganization in order to protect itself from its creditors, mainly persons suffering asbestos-related injuries from exposure to Johns Manville products. When Manville went into bankruptcy, it was acknowledged that it had assets greater than its liabilities. Nonetheless, United States Bankruptcy Law allowed the filing of the petition and ultimately the reorganization of the company and the development of a plan to compensate, at drastically reduced rates, those persons suffering from all varieties of asbestos-related disease who were exposed to Johns Manville products, either occupationally or through household exposure. Since Manville went into bankruptcy, a string of other asbestos manufacturers have filed for bankruptcy for more or less the same reasons invoked by Manville. The filing of a bankruptcy petition has the effect of bringing to a halt the prosecution of your claim against the bankrupt defendant. In other words, we are prohibited by law from either starting or continuing your lawsuit against the company, or otherwise attempting to collect damages from that company until such time as a plan is put into place to compensate asbestos personal injury victims. Each of these bankrupt companies have or will develop a plan for payment to asbestos victims. The amount of money each company ultimately pays depends on such factors as the severity of asbestos disease you have and the amount of monies each company has left to compensate each asbestos victim. We are mindful of this problem, and we are tracking the various bankruptcies involved and filing proofs of claim as allowed by the bankruptcy courts. Despite the bankruptcies, your claim is important and remains valuable. We continue to pursue all potentially responsible parties on your behalf.

Lipsitz & Ponterio, LLC has an asbestos bankruptcy department that is devoted to the filing of these claims. We file all appropriate bankruptcy claims on our clients’ behalf, and work to ensure that our clients receive payment from these bankrupt companies. Even though a client may not be able to file a lawsuit because of problems with the statute of limitations, it is often possible to file bankruptcy proof of claim forms, and in such cases the bankruptcy department works with the client to identify locations of exposure to asbestos as well as the types of asbestos-containing products to which the client was exposed. From there, we file all appropriate claims.

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