By Hayden Alfano. New NGC (dba National Gypsum Company) recently announced a $347 million settlement that will protect it from present and future liability claims stemming from lawsuits against the recently bankrupt Asbestos Claims Management Corporation. ACMC had faced multiple claims from persons who had suffered illnesses due to products that contained asbestos that were manufactured by the company.
Charlotte, N.C.-based New NGC faced possible successor liability suits because of certain assets they purchased from ACMC in 1993. However, Bill Parmelee, chief financial officer for New NGC, stressed that this settlement in no way implies that his company has ever made products that are dangerous. "We have never manufactured products containing asbestos," he says.
The settlement money will go into a newly established trust that was set up to pay present and future asbestos claimants of ACMC. After that, New NGC will be protected from any future litigation that may be filed due to the ACMC products. "This settlement ... will once and for all enable us to permanently lift any perception that our company could be adversely impacted by future asbestos litigation," Thomas C. Nelson, president and CEO of New NGC, said in a press release.
