Foster Wheeler
Foster Wheeler is an engineering, construction, project management and equipment supplier. The company is comprised of two business groups, including The Global Engineering and Construction (E&C) Group and The Global Power Group. The company’s major focus areas are project management, designing and building oil refineries, liquefied natural gas terminals, petrochemical plants and boilers for coal-fired power plants.
Foster Wheeler and Asbestos
In 1927, when the company formed from a merger of the Power Specialty Company (which replaced Water Works Supply Company, created by the Foster family in 1884) and the Wheeler Condenser & Engineering Company, the company manufactured evaporators, cooling towers, and feedwater heaters. Foster Wheeler expanded its product line further when it took over D. Connelly Boiler Company in 1931.
Although Foster Wheeler’s product line did not consist entirely of asbestos-laden products, the company manufactured marine boilers with asbestos-containing parts that included gaskets, roving material and refractory block insulation. Foster Wheeler supplied boilers to the U.S. military, a major source of many personal injury claims stemming from asbestos exposure.
Foster Wheeler and Asbestos Litigation
Foster Wheeler has been a defendant in cases involving a single plaintiff to multiple plaintiffs per suit. Many cases have been settled, others have been dismissed, and still others are still pending. One high profile case resulted in one of the largest asbestos verdicts in California history. A navy electrician and his wife sued Foster Wheeler Corporation after Alfred Todak, age 60, developed pleural mesothelioma from occupational exposure to asbestos. At the center of the suit was Foster Wheeler's asbestos-containing marine boiler. A San Francisco jury awarded Mr. Todak $22.7 million in damages. Mrs. Todak received $11 million for loss of consortium.
Foster Wheeler was named as a defendant against a Florida widow whose husband died of work-related asbestos exposure he suffered while working at two electrical power plants in the state between 1968 and 1996. Woodrow McBride died of lung cancer in 2005. His wife, Betty, filed suit against both power plants, Southport's Smith Power Plant and Crist Power Plant in Pensacola, as well as Foster Wheeler and several other companies she claimed were responsible for her husband’s death. A Florida jury awarded Ms. McBride $1 million on May 6, 2009, but Foster Wheeler was only ordered to pay $250,000 in damages.
Foster Wheeler Future
Foster Wheeler was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2001, but the company pulled through with the help of recent chief executive officer Raymond Milchovich. Foster Wheeler’s corporate headquarters were originally in New York City, then New Jersey, and today, Geneva, Switzerland. As a result, 87 percent of the company’s $5 billion in sales are overseas.
The company has been slow to recover, but in 2009, it won a contract to build the world’s largest biomass-only power plant, a 190-megawatt station in Poland. The company is also working on better boiler designs that will allow for easier carbon capture. Foster Wheeler has permanent offices in 28 countries and 12,000 employees around the world. The company has been in business for more than 115 years.
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Last Modified Thursday, February 9th, 2012 | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy |
The information provided by The Mesothelioma Center is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Sponsored by a law firm concentrating in asbestos litigation, The Peterson Firm, LLP with offices at 1350 Connecticut Ave, NW, Fifth Floor, Washington DC 20036.
