Asbestos Company Granted Bankruptcy Protection in Canada

In early September 2008, the giant asbestos company W.R. Grace offered a settlement to Canadians whose homes have been contaminated with asbestos-containing Zonolite insulation, which was mined from vermiculite in Montana and supplied by Grace to millions of homes in the U.S. and Canada.

Six Hundred Dollars per Home Offered

As much as half of the $6.5 million settlement offered by Grace would go to law firms and administrators, and the remainder would amount to about $600 per homeowner. As Member of Parliament Pat Martin stated, the $600 is "an absolutely paltry amount of money…It's almost useless in terms of the scale of the remediation work that needs to be done out there." He noted that removing the asbestos-laden Zonolite from a single home can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Zonolite Insulation in Hundreds of Thousands of Homes

Zonolite is estimated to be present in 300,000 homes in Canada and many more in the U.S. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, homeowners in Canada were eligible for federal grant money to install Zonolite insulation in their residences. Vermiculite insulation and other products were eventually proven to be toxic, and W.R. Grace was granted bankruptcy protection in 2005 after thousands of individuals sickened by the asbestos fibers sued the company.

(Source: Winnipeg Free Press)

If you have Zonolite or asbestos insulation in your home, contact us today to see what your legal rights are.