For more than two years the Firm has been litigating on behalf of Travelers Casualty and Surety Co. against former asbestos producer, ACandS, Inc., in myriad jurisdictions across the country. The disputes include one case in the Eastern District of Texas (Texarkana), two cases in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), one case in the District of Connecticut (Hartford), two cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, one case in New York Supreme Court, and two arbitrations.
On July 31, the Firm prevailed on behalf of Travelers in the first dispute to go to trial. After a multi-week arbitration in April and May 2003, the panel composed of retired United States Circuit Judges John J. Gibbons and William H. Webster, and University of Law School Professor Stephen B. Burbank issued a confidential ruling accepting Travelers' position that asbestos-related injury claims made by ACandS are subject to Travelers' overall insurance policy limits, which have already been exhausted. That means no further payouts for ACandS.
Travelers expects the next issue to be litigated will be ACandS's claim that Travelers must pay 45 percent of $2.8 billion of asbestos claims that were unpaid but purportedly settled claims before the arbitration decision. Travelers' defenses could eliminate or substantially reduce any responsibility for those purported settlements.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Barry R. Ostrager, Mary Beth Forshaw, Bryce L. Friedman, Maya Raghu, Ted McEvoy, Summer Craig and Robin Pistorius, and paralegals Rosemarie Artale, LaTrece Heard, Karen Armstrong and Janine Townsend. Justin Stern, Karen Weinberger and Keely Wettan provided trial support.