Judge approves asbestos plan

Monday, July 19, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.

HOUSTON -- Halliburton Co. has won court approval for its $4.2 billion plan for settling asbestos-related health claims and a judge's signature on Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring plans for several of its key business units.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith Fitzgerald's action is one of the final hurdles before the subsidiaries, including KBR and DII Industries, can emerge from bankruptcy. They still must fund a trust, using cash, stock and notes, that will be used to pay future claims.

KBR and DII Industries filed for bankruptcy protection in December to deal with claims by about 400,000 people who said they were injured by asbestos exposure.

The bankruptcy was filed in Pittsburgh because most of the asbestos claims were filed against a former Dresser subsidiary, Pittsburgh-based Harbison-Walker Refractories Co. That company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002.

archive