$500 Million Travelers Asbestos Settlement Of Johns-Manville Claims Confirmed

The $500 million dollar settlement to pay asbestos victims agreed to twelve years ago by Travelers Insurance has been confirmed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Travelers agreed to settle their obligations to asbestos victims under policies written for their insured Johns-Manville Corp. way back in 2003. (The mediator who oversaw the settlement was the late New York governor Mario Cuomo, who just died this week.)

After agreeing to settle the Johns-Manville asbestos claims for $445,000,000 in 2003, by 2004 Travelers had decided to back out out of the agreement using a variety of implausible arguments. They have used every legal avenue including the Supreme Court, which reinstated the settlement in 2009 but sent the case back to the bankruptcy court for further proceedings. A unanimous panel of the 2nd Circuit confirmed Traveler’s obligation to pay the settlement this summer.  Despite June’s unanimous 3-0 decision from the Second Circuit, Travelers asked the entire 2nd Circuit court (referred to as an ‘enbanc’ petition) to reconsider the unanimous ruling. That request, which was denied by the 2nd Circuit yesterday, added an additional six months of delay to the payment of Travelers’ obligations.