ASBESTOS

The U.S. Supreme Court reopened a fight over a $1.5-billion class-action settlement of asbestos claims against Fibreboard Corp. and its two insurers, Chicago-based CNA Financial Corp. and Warren, N.J.-based Chubb Corp. The justices told a federal appeals court to reconsider its approval of the agreement in light of the high court’s decision Wednesday striking down another asbestos class-action settlement. The Fibreboard case now returns to a lower court, which will consider the arguments of a group of asbestos-exposed workers and other people who say the settlement, reached in 1993, doesn’t represent their interests. The fight concerns the largest group of asbestos claims against Fibreboard, a Dallas-based construction materials company beset by workers and consumers who say they became ill, or could become ill, after being exposed to the company’s asbestos. Toledo, Ohio-based Owens Corning plans to acquire Fibreboard for $640 million in cash and assumed debt. Fibreboard stopped producing asbestos in 1971. Fibreboard shares rose 6.25 cents to close at $54.875 on the American Stock Exchange.