Extension OKd for Manville Case Claimants

A Los Angeles-based law firm representing more than 500 hospitals in the United States and Europe with asbestos-related claims against Manville Corp. obtained a one-week extension Thursday for filing their multimillion-dollar claims.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Prudence Abrams, ruling in the absence of Judge Burton Lifland, granted the extension after attorneys for Wood, Lucksinger & Epstein argued that Manville had not provided potential claimants with sufficient notice to meet a Jan. 31 deadline.

Lifland had set the deadline last year as part of Manville’s bankruptcy court proceedings. The Denver-based firm, once the nation’s largest asbestos producer, filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the summer of 1982 after it was flooded with lawsuits from individuals claiming health damage from exposure to asbestos that it manufactured.

Chapter 11 protects a company from its creditors and allows it to continue operating while devising a plan to pay its debts.

“This is significant because we believe the amount of (additional) claims will be anywhere from $750 million to $1 billion,” said Barry Glaser, a senior partner of the law firm.

Glaser added that he will ask for an additional six-month extension at next Friday’s hearing in New York’s Southern District Court.

Manville reported that, as of last Monday, 3,500 claims had been filed, up from 2,300 in mid-January.

Agencies, businesses and homeowners who apparently only learned of the Jan. 31 deadline in recent days said they are hopeful that Thursday’s decision will lead to extensions for them.

“I think it’s fabulous,” said Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Jan-Chatten Brown, who rushed the county’s request for a Feb. 8 hearing by overnight mail just hours before the Thursday midnight deadline.

“If our request is granted, I will be there to argue that the extension should apply to everyone.”