20 October 2002

HOUSTON — Industrial contractor and asbestos defendant J T Thorpe Co. has filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In ReJ T Thorpe Co., No. 02-41487 (S.D. Texas).

The Houston-based company filed its prepackaged bankruptcy petition Oct. 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in an effort to resume operations while resolving its asbestos-related liabilities.

J T Thorpe, which is named in approximately 80,000 claims alleging injury as a result of exposure to asbestos products it sold, said in a statement that it expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of 2002. The company installs, maintains, repairs and sells refractory products to the petrochemical industry and refineries throughout the country. It never manufactured products containing asbestos, the statement said. In its voluntary petition for Chapter 11 protection, J T Thorpe listed more than $100 million in assets and $100 million in debt.

Its prepackaged reorganization plan calls for the issuance of injunctions under Section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code and the channeling of all asbestos-related liabilities into a trust. A Claims Review Procedure (CRP) will be adopted to establish a schedule of asbestos-related disease criteria, which must be met in order to receive payment.

'The CRP will specify the medical proof and proof of exposure required for payment of Asbestos Claims,' the reorganization plan states. 'The CRP also will establish the materials that must be submitted by each holder of an Asbestos Claim to determine eligibility for payment.'

According to the plan, the CRP also provides for an individual review process that will allow holders of asbestos claims that do not meet the presumptive medical/exposure criteria to receive payment in an amount up to the value of the particular disease level if it is determined the claim presented would be cognizable and valid in the tort system.

Also as part of the plan, asbestos claims of qualified pre-existing settlement claimants will be paid before other asbestos claims. Other asbestos claims will be paid on a first-in-first-out basis, according to the plan. The CRP will give priority in processing to exigent claims, of which all living claimants filing a mesothelioma claim are automatically considered, it says.

According to the company, its creditors, including a committee of asbestos claimants, have preliminarily approved the plan of reorganization. A hearing on the plan is scheduled for December, the company said.

The Chapter 11 petition was filed by William A. Wood III of Bracewell & Patterson in Houston.