ACandS, Inc

ACandS, founded in 1958 as Armstrong Contracting and Supply Corporation, the insulation contracting subsidiary of Armstrong Cork Company, installed pipe covering, block, cements and sprayed insulation made by other companies, including the sprayed asbestos product Limpet. Armstrong Cork sold it in 1969; it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002, and the ACandS Asbestos Settlement Trust has paid claims since 2009.

Draft. The history on this page was written from the documents in our library and has not yet been reviewed by a person.

History

In December 1957 Asbestos reported that Armstrong Cork was forming a wholly owned subsidiary, Armstrong Contracting and Supply Corporation, to take over on January 1, 1958, all the contracting work then done by its Insulation Division, while the division kept selling Armstrong's insulating materials through ordinary distribution channels¹. In its 1984 answers to interrogatories, ACandS gave its date of incorporation as November 26, 1957, in Delaware, with its main office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania².

The new company grew quickly. In January 1959 it took over the insulation contracting business of Armstrong Cork Canada, through a new subsidiary with offices in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver; the announcement said Armstrong Contracting and Supply had offices in 47 American cities⁹. J. W. Liddell was its president from at least 1960 into the late 1970s^{10, 11}.

In September 1969 Asbestos reported that the company's name had recently been changed to ACandS, Inc., and that Armstrong Cork had sold it, effective August 1, to North Lime Corporation, a company formed by a group of ACandS managers for that purpose⁶. A bankruptcy court later wrote, from ACandS's own disclosure statement, that in 1969 ACandS became a wholly owned subsidiary of Irex Corporation, a small publicly traded holding company⁷. Armstrong Cork itself was renamed Armstrong World Industries in 1980.

What it installed

ACandS described itself as a contractor, not a manufacturer. In 1984 it said it had used 85 percent magnesia and calcium silicate pipe covering and block, asbestos insulating and finishing cements, sprayed insulation, mastics, cloth and jackets, obtained "from virtually every major manufacturer" of asbestos insulation; it named 26 suppliers, among them Johns-Manville, Owens-Corning, Fibreboard, Pittsburgh Corning, Eagle-Picher, Keene, Philip Carey, Unarco and Turner & Newall³. A set of 1959–1967 Owens-Corning invoices for Kaylo pipe and block includes sales to an Armstrong Contracting and Supply address at Dunbar, West Virginia¹².

Some products carried Armstrong names. ACandS said that from 1958 until August 1, 1969, it used products relabeled for it under trade names owned by Armstrong Cork, and that on that date Armstrong Cork transferred those trade names to ACandS¹³. Its list of relabeled products includes LK pipe covering and block and the Armatemp cements, made for it by companies such as Keene, Owens-Corning, GAF, Fibreboard, Eagle-Picher and Atlas Asbestos¹³. The Travelers Insurance Company's product booklet for its asbestos seminar lists Armaspray spray insulation as an Armstrong Cork product sold solely to AC&S¹⁴. In June 1969 Asbestos described Armaspray 16 as a blend of asbestos fibers, mineral wool fibers and inorganic binders, and reported that the company had won the insulation contract at a new plant at Riceboro, Georgia¹⁵.

Limpet. A specification folder from about 1963 offers Sprayed "Limpet" Asbestos for fireproofing, acoustical treatment and insulation, describing it as "100% asbestos fiber, chemically treated," and pictures buildings sprayed by its authorized applicators, including the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York⁴. The company's operating manual for the Limpet spray machine strongly recommends that every member of the spray crew wear a dust respirator approved by the U.S. Bureau of Mines¹⁶. The insurer's booklet lists Limpet under AC&S for 1963 to 1967 as a rebrand of Roberts and Atlas products, and an insulator testified in a November 1969 deposition that Armstrong was the distributor of a product that "came from England originally"⁵.

What the documents show

Early lawsuits. ACandS appears in several of the early insulators' cases filed in federal court in Beaumont, Texas. Tomplait v. Combustion Engineering was brought by an insulator who had worked for Armstrong Contracting and Supply; Travelers, the company's workers' compensation insurer in Texas, moved to intervene in that suit¹⁷. ACandS was also an original defendant in Borel v. Fibreboard, filed in October 1969¹⁸. In May 1970 the plaintiff moved to dismiss it, and the file holds a signed order dismissing it from the case; Armstrong Cork itself had been brought in as a defendant in early 1970^{19, 18}. At trial the parties stipulated that Armstrong Contracting and Supply was an affiliate of Armstrong Cork²⁰. In another Beaumont case, Potter v. Fibreboard, ACandS was dismissed in July 1970²¹.

When it learned of the hazard. Asked in 1984 when it first knew of the hazards of asbestos, ACandS answered that it could not name a time, but that from the late 1960s into the 1970s it had "an increasing awareness" of possible hazards to insulation workers; it pointed to word of mouth in the trade, Liddell's attendance at a late-1960s seminar where Dr. Selikoff spoke, and manufacturers' removal of asbestos from their products²². In the same answer it said there was, and it understood still was, "some dispute and lack of understanding" about the extent of inhalation needed to create those hazards²². It said that by 1972 it was moving to eliminate asbestos products from its work, and that by January 1974 it used none except products in which the fibers were fully encapsulated, such as tape, mastics, cloth and vinyl asbestos tile²³. The bankruptcy court's account differs: it wrote that much of the insulation ACandS installed contained asbestos until 1985⁷.

Bankruptcy and trust

ACandS faced asbestos claims from the late 1970s, and they increased in the late 1990s⁷. It filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware on September 16, 2002, by which time, the court wrote, it was "essentially moribund," with about 300,000 claimants holding some $3 billion in claims⁷. In January 2004 the bankruptcy court refused to confirm its first plan, finding that the proposed trust would not treat present and future claimants alike and that the plan had not been proposed in good faith⁷. A later plan created the ACandS Asbestos Settlement Trust, funded chiefly by a settlement of about $449 million with the company's insurer, together with a contribution from its former parent; the trust began paying claims in 2009⁸. Before filing, ACandS had moved its contracting operations to its former parent⁸. The bankruptcy court described the transaction differently: effective July 1, 2001, ACandS sold certain of its assets to Lancaster Acquisition, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Irex, for $691,315⁷.

References

1. Asbestos, December 1957, p. 46
2. ACandS's Answers to Plaintiffs' Master Interrogatories in Bellows v. Fibreboard (1984), p. 5
3. ACandS's Answers to Plaintiffs' Master Interrogatories in Bellows v. Fibreboard (1984), p. 10
4. Armstrong Contracting and Supply Corporation: Sprayed "Limpet" Asbestos (c. 1963), pp. 1–2
5. Limpet (AC&S), product page
6. Asbestos, September 1969, p. 16
7. In re ACandS, Inc. (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, 2004)
8. ACandS Asbestos Trust Claims
9. Asbestos, January 1959, p. 44
10. Asbestos, April 1960, p. 64
11. Asbestos, July 1978, p. 46
12. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Invoices for Kaylo Pipe and Block Insulation to Mar Par Insul, Armstrong Cork and Asbestos Contractors (1959–1967), UC-2055, p. 26
13. ACandS's Answers to Plaintiffs' Master Interrogatories in Bellows v. Fibreboard (1984), pp. 14–15
14. The Travelers Insurance Company's Product Information Booklet for Its Asbestos Seminar (1980–1981), p. 3
15. Asbestos, June 1969, p. 14
16. Armstrong Contracting and Supply Corporation: Sprayed "Limpet" Asbestos Machine Operating Instructions, p. 2
17. The Tomplait v. Combustion Engineering Case File (1962–1969), Motion to intervene, p. 1
18. The Borel v. Fibreboard Case File (1969–1972), Original complaint, p. 2, and docket of pleadings
19. The Borel v. Fibreboard Case File, Motion to dismiss Armstrong Contracting & Supply, with order (1970), pp. 1–2
20. The Borel v. Fibreboard Case File, Trial transcript, volume IV, p. 5
21. The Potter v. Fibreboard Case File (1969–1972), Motion to dismiss Armstrong Contracting & Supply, with order (1970), p. 1
22. ACandS's Answers to Plaintiffs' Master Interrogatories in Bellows v. Fibreboard (1984), p. 42
23. ACandS's Answers to Plaintiffs' Master Interrogatories in Bellows v. Fibreboard (1984), p. 11

Asbestos trust

If you or a family member worked with or around ACandS, Inc's asbestos products and later developed mesothelioma or another asbestos disease, a claim may be paid by the ACandS Asbestos Settlement Trust. Free case review.

Asbestos products

5 products our documents name ACandS, Inc as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

• Armaspray #16 (AC&S)
• Armatemp 10 (AC&S)
• Armatemp 166 (AC&S)
• Limpet (AC&S)
• LK (AC&S)

Court cases

61 court decisions in our case-law library name ACandS, Inc as a defendant, newest first.

• Motions for Access OF Garlock Sealing Technologies LLC (2013)
• Brannan v. Wallace & Gale Asbestos Settlement Trust (2012)
• McDonald v. AC &S., Inc. (2012)
• Dietz v. Fulton Boilerworks (Matter of New York City Asbestos Litig., 2010)
• Deschenes v. Transco, Inc. (2008)
• Williams v. American Optical Corporation (2008)
• Deschenes v. Transco, Inc. (2007)
• Roberts v. ACandS, Inc. (2007)
• Holdampf v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Matter of Nyc Asbestos Litig, 2005)
• Wilson v. John Crane, Inc. (2005)
• Holdampf v. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (In re New York City Asbestos Litigation, 2004)
• Diedrich v. Robert A. Keasbey Co. (IN the Matter of New York City Asbestos Litigation, 2004)
• Roberts v. ACandS, Inc. (2004)
• In re ACandS, Inc. (2004)
• AlliedSignal, Inc. v. Herring (2003)
• Harris v. AC & S., Inc. (2003)
• Garlock v. Gallagher (2003)
• Owens-Illinois v. Gianotti (2002)
• Gatling v. Eaton Corp. (2002)
• Harris v. AC & S., Inc. (2002)
• Allied Signal, Inc. v. Herring (2001)
• Black v. ACandS, Inc. (2001)
• Hoffman v. AC&S, Inc. (2001)
• Baker v. ACandS (2000)
• Hamilton v. Garlock, Inc. (2000)
• Vasura v. Acands (2000)
• Porter Hayden Company v. Wyche (1999)
• Harder v. ACandS (1999)
• Holmes v. ACandS, Inc. (1999)
• Baker v. AC&S, Inc. (1999)
• Harder v. ACandS, Inc. (1998)
• Callaway v. Anco Insulation, Inc. (1998)
• Adams v. Owens-Illinois (1998)
• Barr v. ACandS, Inc. (1997)
• Anchor Packing Co. v. Grimshaw (1997)
• Alliegro v. ACandS, Inc. (1997)
• Tallman v. WR Grace & Co.-Conn. (1997)
• ACandS Inc. v. Asner (1996)
• Nelson v. Keene Corp. (1996)
• Nugent v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas, Inc. (1996)
• Egan v. Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. (1996)
• ACandS, Inc. v. Godwin (1995)
• ACandS, Inc. v. Asner (1995)
• Smith v. ACandS, Inc. (1994)
• Busfield v. AC & S., Inc. (1994)
• Coates v. AC and S, Inc. (1994)
• Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. v. Balbos (1992)
• Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. v. Balbos (1990)
• Puppe By Puppe v. AC and S., Inc. (1990)
• In re Fibreboard Corp. (1990)
• Farrall v. AC & S. Co., Inc. (1990)
• Board of Education v. A, C & S, Inc. (1989)
• Pecorino v. Raymark Industries, Inc. (1988)
• Knox v. AC & S, Inc. (1988)
• Campo v. Asbestospray Corp. (1988)
• Joyce v. AC and S., Inc. (1986)
• Lohrmann v. Pittsburgh Corning Corp. (1986)
• Blackston v. Shook & Fletcher Insulation Co. (1985)
• Sheppard v. AC & S. Co. (1985)
• Nutt v. AC & S., Inc. (1983)
• McCarty v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp. (1980)

In the Union Carbide documents

ACandS, Inc is named in 7 Union Carbide documents dated 1983 to 2003 (7 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. 6 of them are published in our collection.

• Summonses and Amended Complaints in Partain v. North Bros. Co. et al. and Cooper v. North Bros. Co. et al., Naming Union Carbide as Defendant (1983) UC-1411 (mentioned)
• Union Carbide's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories, Requests for Production and Requests for Admission in Tijerina v. A C & S, Inc. (2001) UC-2058 (mentioned)
• ATOFINA Petrochemicals' Certificate of Written Discovery and Related Transmittal Letters, Short v. A.C. & S. (2001) UC-1895 (mentioned)
• Affidavit of Carlo F. Martino on Union Carbide's Bakelite Phenolic Molding Compounds, Kahler v. ACandS (2002) UC-5274 (mentioned)
• Affidavit of John L. Myers in Support of Union Carbide's Motion for Summary Judgment, Kavanaugh v. AcandS, Inc., with Attached Toxicology Reports and Customer Literature (2003) UC-5439 (mentioned)
• Union Carbide's Responses to Plaintiffs' Set No. 46 Interrogatories on Asbestos Exports and Imports at the Ports of Stockton and Sacramento (undated) UC-5327 (mentioned)

Names in the documents

The spellings documents use for ACandS, Inc, OCR misreadings included, so a search for any of them finds this page: AC&S, Inc · A C & S, Inc · A.C. & S · ACandS.

Where this comes from

This page brings together every document in our library that names ACandS, Inc, across collections. Titles and affiliations are taken from the documents themselves, and units and subsidiaries are grouped under the company they belong to.