Combustion Engineering
Combustion Engineering made asbestos-insulated boilers for decades. They sold boilers to companies nationwide. Many who worked with these boilers have developed mesothelioma. This includes machinists and veterans. Asbestos attorneys can help victims file claims against the company’s trust fund.
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Combustion Engineering History of Asbestos Use
For more than 40 years, Combustion Engineering made steam boilers with asbestos insulation. Its history of asbestos use resulted in hundreds of thousands of lawsuits. The company’s asbestos liabilities ultimately pushed it into bankruptcy. In 2006, it finalized a plan to establish an asbestos trust fund to pay all current and future claims.
Established in 1914, Combustion Engineering began making boilers in the 1930s. The company used asbestos insulation in its boilers and sold them throughout the country.
Asbestos is a heat-resistant mineral, useful for heat-generating products like boilers. But it can also lead to the development of serious diseases like mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Combustion Engineering struggled through its early years as an asbestos company. But World War II reversed its fortunes. The company aided the war effort by producing boilers for transportation steamships. Merchant Mariners and others working around boilers on these ships may have experienced asbestos exposure.
Starting in the 1960s, asbestos victims began filing lawsuits against Combustion Engineering. They claimed exposure from the company’s boilers led them to develop asbestos diseases.
| Product Name | Start Year | End Year |
|---|---|---|
| Combustion Engineering Block Stick | 1963 | 1972 |
| Combustion Engineering Boilers | ||
| Combustion Engineering Buck Stay Cement A-1360 | 1965 | 1966 |
| Combustion Engineering Calcrete 30 Insulating Cement | 1964 | 1970 |
| Combustion Engineering Castablock Insulating Cement | 1965 | 1966 |
| Combustion Engineering Expansion Joint Material | 1963 | 1966 |
| Combustion Engineering Fibrous Adhesive | 1964 | 1965 |
| Combustion Engineering Gunisul | 1963 | 1966 |
| Combustion Engineering Hilite Insulating Cement | 1964 | 1968 |
| Combustion Engineering Kaiser M Block Insulation | 1963 | 1966 |
| Combustion Engineering Lite Wate 22 | 1969 | 1972 |
| Combustion Engineering MHD Finishing Cement | 1964 | 1968 |
| Combustion Engineering Mix A | 1963 | 1972 |
| Combustion Engineering Permiseal | 1964 | 1975 |
| Combustion Engineering Pyroscat Fireproofing Cement | 1964 | 1972 |
| Combustion Engineering SDK 50 Insulating Cement | 1963 | 1966 |
| Combustion Engineering Stick-tite Insulating Cement | 1963 | 1972 |
| Combustion Engineering Super 711 Insulating Cement | 1964 | 1972 |
| Combustion Engineering Super Finish Insulating Cement | 1965 | 1968 |
| Combustion Engineering Super Finish Stick-tite Insulating Cement | 1963 | 1972 |
| Combustion Engineering Super Stick-tite Insulating Cement | 1964 | 1972 |
| Combustion Engineering Thermal Coat | 1964 | 1964 |
| Combustion Engineering Utility Thermal Finish Cement | 1964 | 1972 |
| Combustion Engineering Weatherkote | 1963 | 1977 |
| Combustion Engineering WeatherKote Protective Duriseal | 1964 | 1973 |
In 1989, Combustion Engineering became a subsidiary of Swiss company ABB Ltd. In 2002, asbestos victims filed more than 79,000 lawsuits against Combustion Engineering. In February 2003, Combustion Engineering filed for bankruptcy.
The company emerged from bankruptcy with a trust fund in 2006. They created it to handle all current and future asbestos claims. In 2015, General Electric (GE) purchased the company and folded it into GE Power.
As it stands, GE Power owns the company’s technology. They also offer repairs for Combustion Engineering boilers. The trust fund continues to compensate eligible victims today.
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Combustion Engineering Asbestos Products
Combustion Engineering made boilers insulated with asbestos from the 1930s through the 1960s. Awareness of the dangers of asbestos exposure continued to grow during this time.
Despite troubling medical evidence, many companies continued to use asbestos to insulate products. Combustion Engineering is no exception. Eventually, it stopped making asbestos products, but many of its older boilers may still be in use.
Did You Know?
Mesothelioma victims may be eligible for compensation from more than one asbestos trust fund.
Filing a claim with one trust does not impact your eligibility for compensation from another trust fund.
Combustion Engineering and Occupational Exposure
Jobsites with Combustion Engineering boilers may result in occupational asbestos exposure for workers. The company’s boilers were used at a wide range of sites throughout the country. In these settings, people often inhaled asbestos dust. This can lead to the development of mesothelioma.
Some Combustion Engineering locations (like its Windsor plant) are a big part of its area’s history. But these sites may have led to asbestos exposure for many workers and residents.
The Combustion Engineering trust fund lists thousands of jobsites and ships where exposure occurred. These locations range from CertainTeed Corporation to General Motors to Johns-Manville. They also include shipping companies like Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Shipyard, Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company and Ingalls Shipyard.
The company’s boilers were also present at many military bases and other military buildings, including:
- Dover Air Force Base
- Grand Forks Air Force Base
- Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
- McClellan Air Force Base
- Norfolk Naval Shipyard
- Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
- Portsmouth Air Force Base
- Veterans hospitals
Combustion Engineering boilers may have exposed veterans and military personnel at these locations.
Some workers may have faced higher levels and frequencies of exposure. This includes mechanics who performed repair work. But any level of asbestos exposure is dangerous. In some cases, workers may also have carried asbestos dust home on their clothes or in their hair. Household members exposed to asbestos secondhand may also develop asbestos diseases.
- Boiler workers
- Chemical workers
- Construction workers
- Electricians
- Engineers
- Fabricators and assemblers
- General repair workers
- Heat and frost insulators
- Hospital workers
- HVAC workers
- Industrial workers
- Insulators
- Laundry workers
- Machinists
- Maintenance staff
- Metal workers
- Mine workers
- Operations specialists
- Paper mill workers
- Pipefitters
- Plumbers
- Power plant workers
- Railroad workers
- Refinery workers
- Rubber industry workers
- Shipyard workers
- Steamfitters
- Textile workers
- Veterans
Asbestos Lawsuits Against Combustion Engineering
Combustion Engineering was first named in an asbestos lawsuit in the 1960s. For the next 40 years, the company faced upwards of a billion dollars in asbestos liabilities. Its parent company marked $940 million for expected legal costs leading up to its 2003 bankruptcy filing.
Some cases against Combustion Engineering have resulted in settlements. A settlement is an agreement where a company pays an asbestos victim a specified sum to end the lawsuit. In 1988, for instance, Combustion Engineering settled a case with a Bethlehem Steel worker who died from asbestos cancer.
Often, asbestos settlements are private agreements. In general, compensation amounts are not available to the public. But industry experts calculate the average mesothelioma settlement to be $1 – $1.4 million.
Asbestos lawsuits that go to trial may result in jury verdicts. In 2002, a court of appeals affirmed a $1.05 million mesothelioma verdict in favor of a machinist’s widow. Her husband worked on Combustion Engineering boilers at a Wisconsin Electric Power Company plant. Evidence at trial showed the presence of asbestos dust clouds in the area around the boilers.
Post-bankruptcy, asbestos legal actions no longer go through the court system. They are now processed by the company’s asbestos trust fund.
Questions About Filing a Claim Against Combustion Engineering? Ask experienced mesothelioma advocate Jennifer Lucarelli Ask a Question
Combustion Engineering Asbestos PI Trust Fund
In 2006, the company placed more than $1 billion into the Combustion Engineering 524(g) Asbestos PI Trust. A company creates this type of personal injury (PI) trust fund to pay out the asbestos claims it faces. The legal structure guarantees some compensation to all current and future claimants.
The current payment percentage for successful claims is 20%.
When someone makes a claim, they can be compensated up to a certain percentage of that claim. This rate is known as the payment percentage, and it can fluctuate over time.
In 2022 alone, the trust paid out more than 14,000 claims. Many factors can affect a claim’s final payout. A victim’s age, occupation, disease severity and a firm’s settlement history can all affect the payout.
Asbestos attorneys are available to help file claims. They can also help you explore more options for compensation.
Sources
ABB Group. ABB and Combustion Engineering reach asbestos agreement.
ABB Group. ABB Group Annual Report 2001.
Bloomberg. How Asbestos Burned ABB.
Combustion Engineering 524(g) Asbestos PI Trust. Important documents.
Combustion Engineering 524(g) Asbestos PI Trust. NOTICE OF COMBUSTION ENGINEERING 524(g) ASBESTOS PI TRUST REGARDING PAYMENT PERCENTAGE.
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin. ANDERSON v. COMBUSTION ENGINEERING INC (2002).
GE Vernova. Services for legacy steam boilers.
Law Insider. Payment Percentage definition.
RAND Institute for Civil Justice. Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts: An Overview of Trust Structure and Activity with Detailed Reports on the Largest Trusts.
United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. In re Combustion Engineering, Inc.
U.S. Department of Labor, Benefits Review Board. LOIS TAYLOR (Widow of GLENN TAYLOR) v. PLANT SHIPYARD CORPORATION and INDUSTRIAL INDEMNITY COMPANY.
Windsor Historical Society. Combustion Engineering: A Windsor Landmark.
Financial Assistance for Mesothelioma Patients
Tara Strand specializes in writing content about mesothelioma and asbestos. She focuses on topics like mesothelioma awareness, research, treatment, asbestos trust funds and other advocacy efforts.
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Jennifer Lucarelli
Mesothelioma Lawyer and Legal Advisor
For more than two decades, Jennifer Lucarelli has served as Legal Advisor at Mesothelioma.com. She has advocated for more than 1,000 asbestos victims, securing millions in settlements and helping them access quality medical care.
