The success of Babcock & Wilcox has been built upon our ability to deliver innovative solutions with a team approach, a customer-focus, ethics, and responsibility.
We, along with other companies in the industry, used asbestos as insulation in our boilers. The use of asbestos was regulated, specified and encouraged by U.S. government agencies for decades, and was utilized in conformance with guidelines published by applicable regulatory bodies. After government regulations imposed low exposure thresholds for asbestos in the early 1970s, asbestos use by B&W and others in the industry was phased out. Since 1982, B&W has settled over 340,000 asbestos claims; however, the claims became intolerable through traditional litigation/settlement processes.
On February 22, 2000, B&W and certain of its subsidiaries filed a voluntary petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. This action offered the only viable legal process by which B&W could determine and comprehensively resolve asbestos liability claims.
On February 22, 2006, six years to the date of its filing, B&W exited Chapter 11. As part of the company's Plan of Reorganization, B&W received a 524(g) channeling injunction which releases the company and its affiliates from future asbestos liability. With this injunction, the validity of which has twice been tested at the Supreme Court-level, B&W will never again face asbestos liability claims.
April 2006 Update
- The B&W Asbestos Trust was created February 22, 2006, as a result of the confirmation of B&W's Chapter 11 Joint Plan of Reorganization. The Trustees are finalizing the processes for submitting, reviewing and paying claims, and instructions will be posted at its web site.
February 2006 Update
- News release: The Babcock & Wilcox Company Exits Chapter 11 Bankruptcy; A Transformational Event for McDermott and B&W
January 2006 Update
- On January 17, 2006, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana confirmed B&W's plan of reorganization.
- Notice of Confirmation Order
- Confirmation Order, entered on January 17, 2006, by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
- Joint Plan of Reorganization as of September 28, 2005, as amended through January 17, 2006 and confirmed by U.S. District Court
- Bar Date Orders
