Combustion Engineering

Combustion Engineering (CE) has been in business for nearly 100 years. As early as the 1930s, the company began manufacturing products that contained asbestos. While the company grew, so did its product list. Combustion Engineering manufactured everything from cement to protective seals until 1990 when Asea Brown Boveri (A.B.B. Group), one of the world’s largest electrical engineering companies, took over all CE operations. By this time, Combustion Engineering had already discontinued its use of asbestos.

Combustion Engineering Asbestos Products

Combustion Engineering manufactured a lot of asbestos products for use in a number of different industries, but the U.S. Navy was a major buyer of the company's boilers and boiler products. Other industries that purchased products from CE included aerospace, construction, foundry, insulation, iron/steel, longshore, maritime, petrochemicals, railroad and textile industries. Specific asbestos products manufactured by Combustion Engineering include:

• A-1199 Insulating Cement
• Asbestos Ropes
• Block Stick
• Boilers
• Buck Stay Cement A1360
• Calcrete 30 Insulating Cement
• Casing Cement
• Castablock Insulating Cement
• Expansion Joint Material
• Fibrous Adhesive
• Griptex Mineral Wool Block
• Gunisul
• Hilite Insulating Cement
• Hy-Temp. Flexible Cement
• Kaiser Hard Top Insulating Cement
• Kaiser M. Block
• Kaiser Plastic Insulating Cement
• Lite Wate 22
• Lite Wate 50
• MHD Finishing Cement
• Permaseal Weathercoating
• Pyroscat Fireproofing Cement
• SDK 50 Cement
• Stic Tite Insulating Cement
• Stirrup Cement
• Super 711 Insulating Cement
• Super Finish Insulating Cement
• Super Finish Stick-Tite Ins. Cement
• Super Stick-Tite Ins. Cement
• Utility Thermal Finish Cement
• WeatherKote Protective Air-Check
• WeatherKote Protective Coating
• WeatherKote Protective Duriseal
• WeatherKote Protective Thermal Coat

Combustion Engineering asbestos products such as these are the cause of asbestos-related illnesses and deaths in thousands of workers. As a result, the company has been the defendant in a number of multi-million dollar asbestos lawsuits, typically involving those who have contracted mesothelioma cancer. Some involve a single plaintiff while others are mass action suits involving many plaintiffs with similar injuries. Because asbestos-related diseases can take 20 to 50 to develop from the time asbestos exposure occurs, cases against Combustion Engineering will likely continue in the future.

Combustion Engineering and Asbestos Litigation

Combustion Engineering had 111,000 legal claims pending in November, 2002. By October, 2004, A.B.B. had reduced this number to 94,000 cases. Many of the claims are the result of asbestos use as an insulation material inside welded boilers. At the end of 2001, A.B.B. took charge of $470 million, increasing its provisions to $940 million to cover future asbestos-related claims against Combustion Engineering. At that time, the company intensified its efforts to settle valid claims and dispute any that appeared invalid.

A.B.B. came close to losing everything in the early 2000s as a result of CE’s asbestos woes. Instead, A.B.B. and Combustion Engineering agreed on a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan with representatives of CE’s asbestos plaintiffs in 2003. After three years in bankruptcy court, the reorganization plan took effect April 1, 2006. The plan established a trust to help settle any pending and future asbestos claims.

Combustion Engineering Trust

The Combustion Engineering Asbestos PI Trust was created to handle all Asbestos PI Trust claims. Many of these claims were filed by those who had been affected by mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease. The Trust’s funding is strictly for the settlement of asbestos claims. The Engineering Trust is estimated at $1.43 billion. In addition to setting up a trust, A.B.B. provided enhanced payment for claimants in the form of company stock and cash. The cash payments were made in installments from 2004 to 2009. These cash payments were estimated at $350 million.

Combustion Engineering Future

Combustion Engineering became part of A.B.B. Group in 1990. In 2000, A.B.B. sold the operations of Combustion Engineering, but retained liability for the asbestos lawsuits. At the time operations were sold, CE was valued at $812 million. This, along with roughly $300 million from the parent company, was used to help pay the 111,000 pending claims and any future claims. If you or anyone you know has been exposed to asbestos products made by Combustion Engineering, consider receiving regular medical exams to check for signs of mesothelioma or another asbestos-related illness.

Sources:

1. http://www.cetrust.org/
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/02/business/international-business-abb-proposes-a-settlement-for-all-asbestos-lawsuits.html
3. http://www.abb.com/cawp/seitp202/0780d60a84053cc9c1256cb1001ecaf5.aspx