Insurance companies have joined the list of parties that want to pry open the records of secretive bankruptcy trusts that plaintiff lawyers set up to pay asbestos-related claims, Forbes.com reported on Friday. Humana, Aetna, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and hospital networks operated by Johns Hopkins and Tufts have filed a complaint in state court in Philadelphia demanding claims records from the H.K. Porter Asbestos Trust. The insurers say they need the names of plaintiffs who have recovered money from the trust so they can be reimbursed for medical expenses they paid to cover the same asbestos-related illnesses. In a similar so-called subrogation action, insurers are preparing to sue Pfizer in federal court in New York to recover some of the $1.2 billion the pharmaceutical maker agreed to pay to settle lawsuits linked to its Quigley unit, which filed for bankruptcy in 2004. In that case, United, Humana and other insurers say the secrecy of the Pfizer settlement with some 230,000 plaintiffs prevents them from demanding reimbursement for medical costs already incurred.
