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Owens-Corning Fiberglas

Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation was a major American manufacturer of insulation and building products that, despite its name suggesting only fiberglass, sold a widely used asbestos-containing pipe and block insulation called Kaylo from 1958 to 1972. The company became one of the most heavily sued defendants in asbestos litigation and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2000, eventually establishing a trust to pay current and future asbestos claimants.

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Origin

Owens-Corning was founded in 1938 as a joint venture between Owens-Illinois and Corning Glass Works to commercialize fiberglass. In 1958 it purchased the Kaylo asbestos insulation product line from Owens-Illinois, which had manufactured Kaylo since the 1940s, and continued selling it until 1972.

Corporate history

According to the 1986 Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases, a compilation by plaintiffs' attorneys, Owens-Corning Fiberglas was incorporated in Delaware on October 31, 1938, and on November 1, 1938, its two founders sold it their fiber glass production and assets in exchange for its stock.2 The book lists the company as the successor to the Kaylo Division of the Owens-Illinois Glass Co.1 It says the company's interest in Asahi Fiber Glass Co. Ltd. was reduced to 28 percent in 1977, and that it bought Marine Engineering & Supply Co., a distributor and installer of insulation.2

In the data sheet The Travelers Insurance Company compiled for a 1980 asbestos seminar, mostly from defendants' answers to interrogatories, Owens-Corning said it marketed Kaylo pipe insulation from 1953 to 1958, before it made it, and that it was not in the asbestos business until 1953; that differs from the 1958 start given above.36 It said it bought the assets of Owens-Illinois at Berlin, New Jersey, and of UNARCO at Bloomington, Illinois, gave its plants as Berlin and Bloomington from 1958 to 1972, and named its fiber suppliers as Lake Asbestos of Quebec, Carey Canadian Asbestos, North American Asbestos and Johns-Manville.3 It also said it had contracting units in California from 1955 to 1970, through Marine Engineering and Supply Company.4

The booklet gives two end dates for asbestos Kaylo. The data sheet says Owens-Corning developed asbestos-free pipe insulation in November 1972, and the attached sales table says it stopped making asbestos-containing insulation that month; a separate typed sheet in the same section, written in the defendant's voice, says Owens-Corning made Kaylo, of calcium silicate, asbestos fibers and binders, "from May of 1958 to November 1975."356 The sheet gives 1942 as the company's first knowledge of hazards and 1967 as the first year Kaylo was labeled, and says it denied direct sales to Long Beach Naval Shipyard but admitted sales to the U.S. Government and to the Navy through distributors.34

Significance in Asbestos Context

For many patients with mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis traced to insulation work between roughly 1958 and 1972, Owens-Corning is a central name in their exposure history because Kaylo pipe covering and block insulation were used heavily in shipyards, power plants, refineries, chemical plants, and large commercial buildings. Internal company documents disclosed in litigation showed Owens-Corning knew of the hazards of asbestos in Kaylo yet continued to market it without adequate warnings for years. Because the company went through bankruptcy, claims today are not pursued in court against Owens-Corning directly but are filed with the Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, which has its own claim forms, exposure criteria, and scheduled payment values.

Kaylo, Owens-Illinois, Asbestos Bankruptcy Trust, Pipe Insulation, Section 524(g) Trust, Fibreboard

Notes

  • If you or a family member worked around insulation between roughly 1958 and 1972, ask whether Kaylo was used at the worksite. Product identification is the key to a trust claim.
  • Preserve any employment records, union records, Social Security earnings statements, and co-worker contact information that can establish where and when you worked with insulation products.
  • Owens-Corning claims are handled through the Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos Personal Injury Trust; your attorney will need a qualifying medical diagnosis and exposure proof that meets the trust's specific criteria.
  • Ask treating physicians to clearly document the diagnosis (mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, or asbestosis) and any occupational exposure history in the medical record, as the trust requires medical documentation.

References

  1. Barbara J. Peters and George A. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, vol. 2 (New York: Garland Law Publishing, 1986), p. 160.
  2. Barbara J. Peters and George A. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, vol. 2 (New York: Garland Law Publishing, 1986), p. 170.
  3. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Owens-Corning Fiberglas Product Information, p. 2
  4. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Owens-Corning Fiberglas Product Information, p. 3
  5. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Owens-Corning Fiberglas Product Information, p. 4
  6. Travelers Asbestos Seminar Booklet (1980): Owens-Corning Fiberglas Product Information, p. 37

Asbestos trust

If you or a family member worked with or around Owens-Corning Fiberglas's asbestos products and later developed mesothelioma or another asbestos disease, a claim may be paid by the Owens Corning/Fibreboard asbestos trust (Owens Corning subfund). Free case review.

Asbestos products

19 products our documents name Owens-Corning Fiberglas as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

Plants

Plants where asbestos products were made that the documents say Owens-Corning Fiberglas ran.

Court cases

177 court decisions in our case-law library name Owens-Corning Fiberglas as a defendant, newest first.

And 27 more: search the case law.

In our library

16 documents in our library name Owens-Corning Fiberglas, by collection.

Motley 1000 (13)

Other library documents (3)

In the Union Carbide documents

Owens-Corning Fiberglas is named in 68 Union Carbide documents dated 1956 to 2001 (2 as the source, 68 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. 67 of them are published in our collection.

Names in the documents

The spellings documents use for Owens-Corning Fiberglas, OCR misreadings included, so a search for any of them finds this page: Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation · Owens Corning · Owens-Corning · Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp · Owens Corning (a/k/a Owens Corning Corporation) · Owens Corning Corp · Owens Corning Fiberglas Corporation · Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, Toledo, Ohio · Owens-Corning Fiberglas Co · Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation (inferred; see problems) · Owens-Corning Fiberglas Company · Owens-Corning Corporation.

Where this comes from

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

Mentioned on this site

Cite this page

“Owens-Corning Fiberglas.” AsbestosClaims.Law Library. https://asbestosclaims.law/library/organizations/owens-corning-fiberglas.

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This page is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Every asbestos case turns on its own facts, exposure history, diagnosis, deadlines, available evidence, and applicable law. Reviewing this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, call 833-4-ASBESTOS for a free case review.