Cancer News, Treatment and Research

A U.S. bankruptcy judge considering the case of Bondex International Inc. has sided with lawyers representing asbestos claimants, rejecting a method the company used to determine that they owe only about $575 million to those injured by asbestos exposure caused by their products. Instead, the judge says, that figure is closer to $1.17 billion. An article in Bloomberg reports that Bondex, which is a unit of RPM International Incorporated – makers of Rust-Oleum – tried to grossly underestimate their obligations to current and future victims of asbestos exposure . “We decline to accept debtors’ novel approach in this case,” said Judge Judith K. Fitzgerald in her opinion, issued this week. The ruling was made to help determine how much Bondex and its affiliates must attempt to set aside as part of the company’s reorganization plan. After the company filed bankruptcy in 2010, faced with an exorbitant number of asbestos-related claims, it vowed to set up an asbestos victims trust that would address current and future lawsuits against them. By organizing such a trust, the company becomes immune from future lawsuits. The trust provides compensation that victims can use for medical care and other expenses associated with a diagnosis of mesothelioma cancer . Bondex International , originally owned by Reardon, was purchased by Republic Powdered Metals (RPM) in 1966. The company is best known in the United States as the makers of a line of household patching and repair products but also produced dozens of general contractor and home remodeling products including those for surface preparation, wallpapering, texturing, and concrete and masonry repair. Many of these products once contained asbestos though the company no longer uses the mineral in the manufacture of its products.