Kaiser Gypsum Trust

The Kaiser Gypsum Trust is a court-supervised asbestos personal injury settlement trust created in 2021 to pay current and future claims against Kaiser Gypsum Company, Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement, Inc. for asbestos-related diseases caused by their joint compounds, plasters, and cement products. Patients who were exposed to these products and later developed mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or certain other asbestos diseases can file claims with the trust rather than suing the bankrupt companies directly.

Origin

Kaiser Gypsum, a building-products manufacturer that sold asbestos-containing joint compound widely from roughly the 1950s through the 1970s, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 along with affiliate Hanson Permanente Cement to resolve mounting asbestos liabilities. The trust was established under Section 524(g) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code when the reorganization plan became effective in 2021, channeling all qualifying asbestos claims to the trust.

Significance in Asbestos Context

For patients whose exposure history includes Kaiser Gypsum joint compound, plaster, or related products (common on construction sites, in drywall finishing, and in home remodeling from the 1950s through 1970s), this trust may be one of several recoveries available alongside lawsuits against still-solvent defendants. The trust pays a percentage of the scheduled value for each disease category (mesothelioma claims receive the highest scheduled amounts), and that percentage is set by the trust based on its assets and projected future claims. Filing requires medical documentation of the diagnosis plus credible evidence of exposure to a Kaiser Gypsum product, such as work history, co-worker affidavits, product identification, or invoices. Your legal team typically files trust claims in parallel with any active lawsuit, and trust recoveries are generally separate from, not a substitute for, tort recoveries against non-bankrupt companies.

Example Sentence

Because her late husband had finished drywall for decades and recalled using Kaiser joint compound, his attorney filed a claim with the Kaiser Gypsum Trust in addition to pursuing the other manufacturers still in the tort system.

Related Terms

524(g) Trust, Asbestos Bankruptcy Trust, Trust Distribution Procedures, Joint Compound, Product Identification, Mesothelioma Claim

Notes

• Gather and preserve any evidence of exposure to Kaiser Gypsum products: employment records, union records, photographs of job sites, product packaging, purchase receipts, and names of co-workers who can confirm the products used.
• Ask your attorney whether your exposure history qualifies under the Kaiser Gypsum Trust Distribution Procedures (TDP) and which disease level applies to your diagnosis, since scheduled values differ substantially between mesothelioma, lung cancer, and non-malignant claims.
• Trust claims have filing deadlines and evidentiary requirements; do not assume a lawsuit alone preserves your right to recover from the trust. A separate claim must be filed.
• If the patient has died, surviving family members may still file a claim; preserve the death certificate, pathology reports, and any prior deposition or work-history statements the patient gave.
• Recoveries from multiple trusts can be combined; ask your attorney for a full list of trusts your exposure history may support, not just Kaiser Gypsum.