In re W.R. Grace & Co.
| Decision Date | 11 June 2012 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-201,CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-203,CIVIL ACTION NO. 09-644,CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-207,CIVIL ACTION NO. 09-807,CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-202,CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-208,CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-200,CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-199 (Lead Case) |
| Parties | In re: W.R. GRACE & CO., et. al., Debtors. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Delaware |
Procedurally Consolidated.
AMENDED MEMORANDUM OPINION
This Memorandum Opinion now addresses the appeals of final judgments of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware ("the Bankruptcy Court") related to the United States Bankruptcy Code Chapter 11 reorganization of Appellee W.R. Grace & Co., et. al. ("Grace").3 ByOrders dated May 19, 2009,4 January 22, 2011,5 and January 31, 2011,6 the Honorable Judith K. Fitzgerald, the United States Bankruptcy Judge presiding over Appellee's reorganization case for approximately ten years, entered and/or approved the Settlement Agreement between Grace and Continental Casualty Company and Continental Insurance Company ("CNA Companies" or "CNA"),7 and the Joint Plan of Reorganization ("the Joint Plan" or "the Plan") of Debtor Grace under Chapter 11. In support of these Orders, Judge Fitzgerald provided over 100 pages of careful analysis of the Settlement Agreement and the Joint Plan (itself consisting of 152 pages) in her Memorandum Opinions and adjoining Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.
Presently before the Court are two separate but related matters: (1) approval of the aforementioned Settlement Agreement; and (2) confirmation of the Joint Plan. The Court has carefully and fully considered the parties' objections and has completed an extensive review of nineseparate court dockets, approximately 2,000 pages of party briefing, 460 pages of oral argument testimony before this Court, and several thousand pages of the supporting record. Having now reviewed several thousand pages of party briefing and having had the benefit of two oral arguments, the Court finds that the parties' Objections are denied, and (1) the Settlement Agreement between Grace and the CNA Companies is approved; and (2) the Joint Plan is confirmed in its entirety.
Appellee Grace is an expansive corporation engaged in the manufacture of chemicals and construction materials. Grace operates in both the domestic and global markets, and has diversified and extensive business activities. One component of its business involves the physical extraction of natural resources from the earth. Grace also refines these natural resources, and converts them through a process known as "expansion" into manufactured materials utilized for building construction and insulation. Despite its vast size and multifarious business activities, Grace has experienced serious financial difficulty as a result of its involvement in multiple tracks of extensive and expensive protracted litigation over the years, which cumulatively lead to Grace filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001.
From 1963 until 1990, Grace owned and operated a mine in Montana. The mine was located seven miles northeast of Libby, a small town situated in a narrow valley enclosed by tall mountains. Miners at the Libby mine extracted vermiculite, a natural mineral composed of shiny flakes that has since been linked to an especially carcinogenic form of asbestos. Following extraction, the vermiculite was processed using a procedure that generated a substantial degree of airborne dust. It was subsequently determined that the milling process used at the Libby mine emitted up to 5,000pounds of asbestos per day into the atmosphere. The Libby residents were significantly exposed to asbestos due to the town's close proximity to the mine and its geographic location in a valley, which had the effect of concentrating vermiculite particles in the atmosphere. As a result, a significant number of both Libby residents and former Grace miners developed a plethora of pleural abnormalities.8 The town was subsequently declared a Public Health Emergency Area by the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), and continues to have the highest death rate of pleural disease related to asbestos of all counties in the United States.
Beginning in the 1970s, persons alleging injuries from exposure to asbestos in Libby (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Libby Claimants") filed suit against Grace. The volume and amount demanded on such claims drastically surged between 1999 and 2000, due to a series of events in the tort system that highlighted Grace as a litigation defendant.9 By 2001, Grace wasinvolved in over 65,000 asbestos-related personal injury lawsuits involving over 129,000 claims. The asbestos litigation had a drastic effect on Grace's financial stability and corporate profitability. As time went on and more claims were filed, Grace faced the likelihood of not being able to satisfy any claims filed against it both presently and in the future.
The State of Montana ("Montana") conducted various state inspections over the course of the mine's operation to monitor the site's safety and health conditions. The Libby mine failed every state inspection between 1956 and 1974, and state inspectors found that the mine exhibited unsafe and unsanitary conditions. During these failed inspections, Montana allegedly informed Grace of the dangers of asbestos and its connection to pleural disease. A majority of Libby residents and Grace employees, however, remained unaware of the potential danger. As a result, Montana has been named as a defendant in over 180 cases filed in various Montana state courts, alleging that the State undertook affirmative duties when it performed the inspections and failed to warn former Grace employees and Libby residents of the asbestos risks associated with the nearby mine. More than fifty of these lawsuits allege that Montana "aided and abetted" Grace in its operation of the mine.
On or about March 25, 2003, Montana began to file Proofs of Claims against Grace's bankruptcy estate before the Bankruptcy Court for contribution and indemnification related to the pending state court actions. On December 14, 2004, the Montana Supreme Court held that under state law, Montana had a duty to provide Libby residents with public health-related information, and remanded the case to the state trial court to determine whether Montana had in fact breached that duty. See Orr v. State, 324 Mont. 391, 401; 106. P.3d 100, 107 (Mont. 2004). Not wanting to be thesole bearer of asbestos liability, on June 9, 2005, Montana requested the Bankruptcy Court to exempt it from the automatic stay of litigation against Grace so that it could implead Grace as a third-party defendant in the Montana state court actions.10 In response, Grace filed a motion requesting the Bankruptcy Court to expand the injunction so as to encompass actions brought against Montana because the two parties shared an identity of interests. The Bankruptcy Court denied Grace's motion on the grounds that it lacked "related-to" subject matter jurisdiction to enjoin the state-court proceedings since Grace's bankruptcy estate would not be directly affected by the outcome of the Montana proceedings. See In re W.R. Grace & Co., 366 B.R. 295, 301 (Bankr. D. Del. 2007). Specifically, the Bankruptcy Court found that "Montana must first be found liable in state court and then pursue its claim for indemnification in bankruptcy court." 11 Id. In August of 2008, this Court affirmed. See In re W.R. Grace & Co., No. Civ. A. 08-246, 2008 WL 3522453, at *6 (D. Del. Aug. 12, 2008). The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld this Court's holding in 2009. See In re W.R. Grace & Co., 591 F.3d 164, 172-73 (3d Cir. 2009). Montana maintains, however, that its claims are derivative of Grace's liability and that Grace therefore presently owes it indemnity and contribution.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway ("BNSF") is a railroad company that entered into leases and agreements with Grace over the years related to operation of the Libby mine and shipment of Grace's asbestos-contaminated products. Specifically, BNSF leased property to Grace that was adjacent to the railroad. On this BNSF property, Grace built a suspension bridge and loading dock, which it used to transport vermiculite from the mine to railroad cars. Once the vermiculite was loaded onto the cars, it was shipped throughout the country on tracks owned by BNSF. Moreover, under the terms of several of the aforementioned leases and agreements, Grace agreed to indemnify BNSF for any asbestos-related personal injury claims that could be asserted against BNSF.
After the harmful effects of the vermiculite were discovered in Libby, personal injury claims were filed against BNSF, claiming that it should be held strictly liable for Grace's handling of asbestos-contaminated materials on BNSF property, or, in the alternative, that BNSF negligently allowed Grace to handle hazardous materials on its property. BNSF now contends that it has the right to be fully indemnified for the claims and defense costs stemming from this litigation.
Grace has also been involved in numerous property damage class action disputes related to asbestos. This litigation is of two different types: (1) "traditional" property damage claims; and (2) Zonolite Attic Insulation ("ZAI") property damage claims.
Traditional property damage claimants allege that building and insulation materials manufactured by Grace contained asbestos and were used in the foundational structure of many public and private buildings. Over 4,000 such traditional property damage claims were filed against Grace alleging damages for costs incurred in the removal and replacement of asbestos products frombuildings. Over a period of many years,...
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