The company also was in charge of Canadian mines that likewise contributed to illnesses and deaths.1
Problematic Patents
Patents proved heavy use of asbestos-laden products by the company. In 1957, the company patented fireproof acoustic correction panels that used asbestos-based felt, pigment, and binding.2 In the 1970s, Celotex filed for a patent for weather-stabilized asbestos-containing roofing felt. Between 70 and 90 percent of this product was made with chrysotile asbestos.3 In 1971, the company also held a patent for asbestos millboard.4
Over the years, the company also held patents for asbestos-containing embossable coating; cement mixtures used in structural material; corrugated building exteriors; molded mineral fiber acoustical tile; composite siding and roofing; mine stopping caulk, and insulating sheathing.5
Lawsuits
In the 1980s, the company began facing asbestos litigation and wrongful death claims. The company has faced wrongful death lawsuits related to asbestosis and mesothelioma, including one case in which a former worker died of malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis in 1987. In this case, the victim’s wife filed a lawsuit against the company a year after her husband’s death. This case made it to the Supreme Court of Tennessee in Nashville in 1990.6
Bankruptcy
Under heavy financial burdens, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1990. A trust was formed to pay off claimants who worked at the company in the U.S. and the company’s Canadian mines that also exposed people to asbestos.
According to court records obtained from the Court Listener, Carey Canada was engaged in asbestos mining until 1986 when it ceased its mining operations.7
Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust
The American Journal of Industrial Medicine reports that in 1995, the company’s asbestos settlement trust placed an ad in the Canadian Courier Frontenac that offered compensation for people whose illnesses resulted from asbestos exposure at the company’s Carey Canada Inc locations. One worker’s daughter reportedly filed a claim with the trust in 2003 and received $8,500 about 13 years after her father died from asbestos exposure in a Canadian mine. He began working there after World War II. After the original mine closed in 1958, he relocated to the second Carey mine where he worked for 25 years sweeping up asbestos fibers, a job that eventually led to his death due to abdominal cancer.8
In 1998, the Houston Business Journal reported that after its bankruptcy, Celotex planned to close its Houston shingle manufacturing plant that had been in operation for almost 75 years. The company was facing 380,000 asbestos-related claims at that time, with health-related claims exceeding $200 billion. Terms of the bankruptcy spelled out that the company would be liable for paying up to $1.5 billion worth of additional claims through the year 2045.9
Rae Steinbach
Lauren Weinand