An affiliate of Owens-Illinois Group Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of glass container products, filed for bankruptcy today under the weight of thousands of asbestos injury claims, the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The chapter 11 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. covers Paddock Enterprises LLC, a subsidiary of publicly traded O-I Glass Inc., which owns the Owens-Illinois glassmaking business made up of 78 glass manufacturing plants in 23 countries. Facing 900 asbestos-related lawsuits and thousands of additional claims, O-I Glass created Paddock to isolate the personal injury liabilities and protect the valuable glass operations from them. The company has spent about $5 billion dealing with roughly 400,000 claims from people who said that they were harmed by asbestos-containing pipe covering and block insulation products sold by a corporate predecessor between 1948 and 1958, according to bankruptcy documents. O-I Chief Executive Andres Lopez said that a chapter 11 reorganization plan “was the most fair and equitable way to obtain certainty and finality” for the legacy asbestos claims that remain. Asbestos claims payments will be suspended until the bankruptcy proceeding is resolved, O-I said.
