2004 Archive

Statute of Limitations Clarification:

The appropriate statute of limitations is applicable to all claims filed with the Trust as describe in Sections 5.2 and 5.3(a)(2) of the of the Trust Distribution Procedures. Section 5.3(a) (2) has been amended by the Trustees, the Trust Advisory Committee and the Futures Representative to clarify the time period during the bankruptcy and post bankruptcy period when the statute of limitations for all claims had been tolled. The Trustees, Trust Advisory Committee, and the Futures Representative, at their December 13, 2004, meeting passed the following resolution: ‘BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the TDP and all other Plan Documents, as necessary, shall be amended to provide that all claims not barred by the applicable statute of limitations or repose at the Petition Date, as determined in Section 5.2 of the TDP, shall be tolled as of the Petition Date through and including April 22, 2005 without the need of the claimant to take any action whatsoever.’

The Petition Date for filing of the bankruptcy by the Debtors was November 22, 2002.

Individual Review:

1. If a claim does not meet the requirements of “Case Valuation Matrix” (See Trust Documents) for any of the required criteria, the claim may be referred to “Individualized Review”. The claimant may submit an attached letter as a supporting document requesting “Individualized Review” when the claim is first submitted. A claim that passes “Individualized Review” may be awarded some compensation but not necessarily what claimant would receive if he met the requirements of the matrix. (See Section 8 of the Case Valuation Matrix)
2. It is required that all claims submitted must in addition pay a filing fee of $250.00 If the claim is considered valid and compensation is awarded than the $250.00 filing fee is returned. If the claim is not valid the filing fee is kept. However for a short time this filing fee maybe refunded. For all claims filed by December 30, 2004 that are withdrawn on or before February 28, 2005 they will have a full refund of their filing fee. The fee, as before, must be paid when the claim is filed with the Trust, in order for the claim to be considered properly submitted. (See Section 6.4 of the Trust Distribution Procedures)
3. If the interrogatory answers are providing as a supporting document, and the verification to the interrogatories can not be obtained, the attorney for the claimant my sign the newly amended Section 16: Signature Page of the claim form in lieu of provided the claimant’s verification to interrogatories. See Section 16: Signature Page under the Claim Packet Information. Only the attorney for the claimant or his or her personal representative may sign Section 16. A firm paralegal or other non attorney staff person may not sign this document.

Claim Submissions

As of August 16, 2004, the Western Asbestos Settlement Trust started accepting claim submissions. Unfortunately, the Trust has been experiencing some technical difficulties with our newly installed email system. Thus, you may have recently sent us claims via our e-mail address, and there is a possibility the claims were not properly received. We ask those of you who have sent claims to please contact the Trust to verify that all transmitted claims have been received.

Additionally, in the future, for all email transmission of claims, the Trust will send the law firm contact a confirmation of receipt, within two business days. If you do not receive this email confirmation, please call the Trust at 775.324.5511 to follow up.

For all future electronic claim submissions, your law firm may request a secure file transfer (FTP) account with the Trust. For more information on this capability or to request this access contact the Trust at questions@wastrust.com.

If you do not want to set up a file transfer account you may still send your claims to the Trust via email. However, you must compress (zip) the electronic claim template, i.e. the Access MDB file, prior to sending. That compressed file should be attached to your email along with the supporting document PDF files and sent to claims@wastrust.com.

Additionally, for any general claims processing question, please email the trust at questions@wastrust.com. We appreciate your patience as the Trust establishes its procedures and works through the issues of setting up the necessary electronic systems.