Western MacArthur Asbestos Trust: Claims and Payment

Western Asbestos Company distributed and installed Johns-Manville asbestos-containing insulation products from 1930 through May 1967. In May 1967, MacArthur Company formed Western MacArthur Company to take over the business of Western Asbestos, which then ceased operations and dissolved in 1969. In 2002, Western MacArthur and Western Asbestos filed Chapter 11 bankruptcies and proposed a joint plan of reorganization to address pending and future asbestos claims. The Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California entered an order confirming the Second Amended Joint Plan on January 27, 2004, and the trustees were appointed by court order on February 2, 2004. The plan created the Western Asbestos Settlement Trust under 11 U.S.C. 524(g), along with trust distribution procedures and a case valuation matrix that set how claims are submitted, valued and paid at a percentage of assigned value. The trust's annual report states the payment percentage was raised in stages to 34.2% in February 2006, 40.0% in July 2007, 44% in February 2010, 48% in September 2014 and 51.1% in May 2019. The trustees reviewed it on April 11, 2024 and left it at 51.1%. The trust files an annual report and accounting with the bankruptcy court, and the most recent on its site is the twenty-second, covering 2025.