Keene Asbestos Trust Fund and Lawsuits

Information About the Keene Creditors Asbestos Trust (Ehret Magnesia)

Keene Corporation acquired asbestos pipe insulation manufacturer Ehret Magnesia in 1968. By the early 1990s, the company confronted more than 100,000 asbestos-related claims. Keene filed for bankruptcy on December 3, 1993, and emerged on June 13, 1996. As part of the bankruptcy reorganization, the company established the Keene Creditors Trust to pay current and future asbestos claims.

Ehret Magnesia Asbestos Trust Updates

1. The current payment percentage is 0.8%.
2. Mesothelioma has a scheduled payment of $125,000.
3. Lung cancer has a scheduled payment of $41,200.
4. Other cancers have a scheduled payment of $21,500.

Appointed trustees manage the trust and process claims through a structured system. Claimants must provide proof of a mesothelioma diagnosis or other eligible disease and evidence of exposure to Ehret Magnesia products to receive scheduled payouts. This structure follows the standard framework for asbestos trust funds formed under U.S. court oversight to ensure ongoing compensation for people who developed diseases from the company’s asbestos-containing products.

Legal Help for People Exposed to Keene’s Ehret Magnesia Asbestos Products

Experienced asbestos attorneys handle your case completely, filing claims with the Keene Creditors Trust and gathering proof of your exposure at sites like Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. They investigate your work history, secure medical records, witness statements and navigate trust rules to help you secure mesothelioma compensation. 

Your experienced asbestos lawyer can also help you file workers’ compensation claims and explore other avenues for compensation to cover your medical expenses, lost wages and other diagnosis-related costs. For example, if another company was involved in your exposure, you may be eligible to file a mesothelioma lawsuit against that company.

The best way to choose among top lawyers to find the right one for you is to get assistance from a Patient Advocate. They can match you with lawyers based on your needs and preferences and offer free ongoing support with mesothelioma specialist appointments, insurance, VA claims and finding community with fellow survivors or caregivers.

Asbestos Litigation Involving Keene Corporation

Keene Corporation began defending personal injury lawsuits as early as 1971. While the company purged asbestos materials from its product line in 1972, because of the long latency period for asbestos cancers, people continue to receive diagnoses and need compensation to cover their medical expenses and provide for their families.

Notable Asbestos Litigation Involving Keene Corporation

• $3 million: Henry Tragarz, a former sheet metal worker, was exposed to Baldwin-Ehret-Hill’s Thermasil asbestos block at various job sites throughout the 1960s and ’70s. Tragarz worked alongside insulators and pipefitters whose job tasks stirred up thick clouds of asbestos dust. The jury returned the verdict in favor of Tragarz’s estate, holding Keene Corporation and Owens-Corning Fiberglas Company liable for his death from pleural mesothelioma.
• $406,000: George Coffman’s lawsuit asserted Keene and 8 other defendants were responsible for his asbestosis. As an electrician at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from 1951 to 1969, Coffman experienced ongoing exposure while servicing and overhauling ships and submarines. The jury found 7 defendants, including Keene, substantially contributed to Coffman’s illness. 

These cases highlight the serious health risks tied to decades of asbestos exposure in industrial and naval settings. Legal experts continue to assist individuals and families in pursuing claims, thoroughly documenting exposure history and linking illnesses to Keene’s asbestos products, ensuring fair compensation for affected workers.

Keene and Ehret Magnesia’s History With Asbestos

Ehret Magnesia Manufacturing Company, founded in 1897, produced asbestos pipe insulation products under the Thermalite and Durocel brands. The company combined imported raw asbestos with materials from its Pennsylvania limestone quarries to manufacture and distribute a wide range of thermal insulation and construction supplies. 

Workers and users of these products were exposed to asbestos, later developing mesothelioma and other serious respiratory diseases. Despite early knowledge of health risks from industry articles on asbestosis in the 1930s and internal concern over employee illnesses in the 1950s, Ehret continued manufacturing asbestos products. 

In 1959, Ehret merged with Baldwin-Hill to form Baldwin-Ehret-Hill, which Keene Corporation acquired in 1968. While Keene didn’t manufacture asbestos products, it sold and expanded fireproofing operations through acquired companies, eventually ceasing production in the early 1970s.

Keene, as successor to Ehret Magnesia and Baldwin-Ehret-Hill, inherited liability for asbestos-related harm. In 1981, Keene’s president formed Bairnco Corporation to manage numerous acquired businesses. Though Keene settled thousands of asbestos cases as of 1981, nearly 9,000 lawsuits remained. Bairnco separated from Keene in 1990 at a cost of $6 million, but asbestos claims continued against the related companies.

Ehret Magnesia’s Illegal Dumping Exposed Pennsylvania Residents

In January 1997, workers discovered asbestos-contaminated soil while running fiber optic cable near the former site of Ehret Magnesia’s asbestos plant near Philadelphia. It later came to light that Ehret had illegally dumped waste into abandoned quarries and the Schuylkill River for decades. Further, the company did so with permission from the Pennsylvania state government.

Within several months, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined an emergency removal action was necessary. With an initial investment of $200,000, the agency fenced off the contaminated area, covered the dangerous materials with soil, wet exposed asbestos to reduce airborne fibers and conducted ongoing sampling of the soil and air. While the agency deemed the emergency removal action complete as of July 1997, future projects are still expected.

Occupations at Risk From Keene and Ehret Magnesia’s Products

Ehret Magnesia, Baldwin-Ehret-Hill and Keene Corporation products put thousands of workers at risk. These companies’ asbestos-tainted products affected several industries, most frequently harming workers in construction and shipbuilding.

Higher Risk Jobs

• Boiler workers
• Carpenters
• Chemical plant workers
• Construction workers
• Ehret Magnesia manufacturing plant workers
• Electricians
• Factory workers
• Industrial workers
• Insulators
• Metal workers
• Pipefitters
• Plumbers
• Power plant workers
• Shipfitters
• Shipyard workers
• Veterans of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard

Most at risk, however, were Ehret Magnesia and Keene Corporation employees who worked at the plant in the Valley Forge National Historical Park from the early 1890s to the 1970s. These workers regularly handled raw asbestos and may have been exposed to waste that was illegally disposed of for decades.

Exposure to Thermolite and other Ehret Magnesia insulation products occurred in shipyards, typically during the construction and repair of U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard vessels. Often working in tight quarters with inadequate ventilation, pipefitters, insulators and boiler workers commonly released clouds of toxic dust that threatened the health of all workers in the vicinity.

Keene and Ehret Magnesia’s Asbestos Products

Ehret Magnesia added amphibole asbestos fibers to its popular Thermolite brand pipe insulation. Although it made for excellent insulation, insulators and pipefitters who installed, repaired and removed Thermolite faced ongoing exposure hazards. The insulation was removed prior to pipe repairs and replacing old pipes required cutting, which released toxic fibers into the air.

Ehret Magnesia Asbestos-Containing Products

• B-H #1 insulating cement
• B-H insulating cement
• Baldwin Mono-Block asbestos covering
• Durocel pipe insulation
• Ehret Air Cell
• Ehret asbestos corrugated paper
• Ehret asbestos millboard
• Ehret asbestos paper
• Ehret asbestos sponge felt
• Ehret asbestos wick and rope
• Ehret Fibrekote
• Enduro block insulation
• Enduro insulating cement
• Enduro pipe covering
• Monoblock insulating block
• Mono-Spray fireproofing
• No. 1 Plus insulating cement
• No. 1 insulating cement
• Pyrospray “S” fireproofing
• Pyrospray fireproofing
• Styltone
• Super Powerhouse insulating cement
• Thermalite block insulation
• Thermalite insulating cement
• Thermalite pipe covering
• Thermasil block insulation
• Thermasil pipe covering
• Uni-Coustic
• Valley Forge asbestos sheets, packings and gaskets

Workers in power plants, shipyards and refineries used these products extensively for heat protection. Cutting, sanding or disturbing them during installation or maintenance releases dangerous amphibole fibers into the air.

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