A C & S Inc.

ACandS’ History with Asbestos

ACandS, formerly Armstrong Contracting and Supply Corporation, was founded in 1958. The company sold and installed asbestos-containing insulation manufactured by other companies, including some asbestos insulation products manufactured by Armstrong Cork Company. However, ACandS never manufactured asbestos products.

In 1974, ACandS said it no longer would use materials containing friable asbestos. While ACandS created a policy to stop using certain kinds of asbestos, it did not entirely stop using it. According to an ACandS bankruptcy statement, the company continued to use asbestos until 1985.

From 1981 to 2002, ACandS resolved more than 247,000 individual asbestos-related lawsuits. Most claimed the company exposed workers to the deadly mineral, triggering several mesothelioma diagnoses.

The company received nearly 55,000 claims in 2001 alone. The financial strain from these claims forced ACandS to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2002 and establish an asbestos trust fund to handle future asbestos claims.

Development of the ACandS Asbestos Settlement Trust

A judge rejected ACandS’ initial reorganization plan because it did not adequately consider the ongoing or long-term costs of asbestos claims.

In May 2008, the judge approved ACandS’ second reorganization plan. It established a trust fund, known as the ACandS Asbestos Settlement Trust, and required the company to place $528 million in the trust. The trust began accepting claims in May 2009.

The trust’s scheduled value of a mesothelioma claim is $150,000. The current payment percentage is 5.8%.

Asbestos Litigation Involving ACandS

Prior to filing for bankruptcy, ACandS faced tens of thousands of asbestos lawsuits from people who claimed they developed asbestos-related diseases after installing or working around ACandS insulation projects.

• Jess Lemmons worked as a boilermaker at Todd Shipyards in Houston, Texas, where he often used block insulation, pipe covering and other materials that contained asbestos. When he died from an asbestos-related condition, Lemmons’ wife sued ACandS and won a $3 million verdict.
• In 2001, ACandS lost a trial involving five people. Together with Harbison-Walker Refractories and A.P. Green Industries, ACandS paid a portion of the $40 million verdict. The five claimants worked with pipe covering, cement block, insulating cements, pipefitting and asbestos bricks.
• Henry Plummer, a U.S. Navy machinist who worked with contaminated insulation, gaskets and pipe coverings in warships, also won compensation from ACandS in 2001 after developing mesothelioma. He received $3.1 million.

ACandS’ Asbestos Products

ACandS installed insulation products containing asbestos, including:

• Air Cell Insulation
• Armaspray
• Armabestos Block Insulation and Pipe Covering
• Armatemp Block Insulation
• Armatemp Cement No. 10
• Armatemp Cement No. 166
• Armatemp Insulating Cement
• Armstrong 85% Magnesia Cement
• Armstrong 85% Magnesia Pipe and Block Insulation
• Armstrong Kaytherm Pipe Covering
• Armstrong LT Cork Covering
• Armstrong’s Plastic Emulsion
• Armstrong’s S.P. Emulsion with Asbestos
• Asbestos Fiber EX-25
• Duplex Wool Felt Pipe Insulation
• Hydrocord (asbestos fiber felt)
• Hy-Temp Combination Insulation
• Hy-Temp Pipe and Block Insulation
• Kaylo Pipe Covering
• Limpet LW25 Raw Asbestos Fiber
• LK Block Insulation
• LK Pipe Covering
• Mani-Ply Pipe Insulation
• Vinyl Asbestos Tile (Corlon and Excelon brands)

ACandS sold four types of asbestos-containing gaskets used by pipefitters. The gasket brand names are Accobest AN-B012, Accobest AS-474, Accobest AS-8073 and Accopac. Armstrong World Industries also distributed the latter three.

ACandS Occupations at Risk

ACandS employees most often faced asbestos exposure at work, particularly those who handled or installed asbestos-containing materials or worked around such products during installation, repair or removal. ACandS supplied and installed insulation in various commercial and industrial buildings, including chemical plants, power plants, oil refineries, paper mills, aircraft hangars, hospitals, schools and military bases.

Occupations with the highest risk of exposure to ACandS asbestos products included:

• Boiler workers
• Construction workers
• Factory and industrial workers
• Flooring installers
• Insulators
• Pipefitters
• Sheet metal workers
• Shipfitters
• Shipyard workers

A 2018 study in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health revealed a higher cancer incidence, particularly mesothelioma and lung cancer, among shipyard and shipbuilding workers exposed to asbestos. The European Commission reported more than 70,000 worker deaths in 2019 alone, resulting from past asbestos exposure.

History of ACandS

ACandS Inc. began as the Armstrong Cork Company, founded in the 1860s. Initially, Armstrong produced cork stoppers for glass bottles. Over time, the company expanded by acquiring several local independent insulation businesses, becoming a national corporation.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Armstrong experienced declining profits. In 1952, the company was named in a workers’ compensation claim related to asbestos disease. These developments prompted Armstrong in 1958 to form a subsidiary called Armstrong Contracting and Supply Corporation, which handled insulation installation for commercial and industrial buildings.

Throughout the 1960s, workers’ compensation claims tied to asbestos diseases against Armstrong rose significantly. By the end of that decade, Armstrong sold Armstrong Contracting and Supply. Employees purchased the business and renamed it ACandS Inc.

In 1969, Irex Corporation was created by 31 current and former Armstrong Contracting and Supply employees to acquire ACandS. As an Irex subsidiary, ACandS continued its insulation installation work and earned a reputation as a dependable contractor until it filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

Today, the company operates as Irex Contracting Group, focusing on installing asbestos-free insulation and providing services such as asbestos abatement.

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