When the story of asbestos and its lethal health effects finally gelled, several companies filed bankruptcy in order to deal with liability issues. Owens Corning was one of them, and was also one of the firms to set up a multibillion dollar trust for the purpose of compensating victims of asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Since starting in late October, 2006, the trust has paid $390 million on 70,000 claims submitted by people — primarily construction workers, ship-builders, and others — who developed lung diseases from working around asbestos-containing insulation and other products once made by Owens Corning and its Fibreboard subsidiary.

As part of Owens Corning’s six-year bankruptcy case, the trust assumed responsibility for compensating victims. OC kicked in a multibillion-dollar pot of cash and stock to shed the liability. The trust has received an additional 256,000 claims and faces new demands for compensation daily.

Most payments have gone to people who settled with Owens Corning years ago but whose settlements were tied up by the firm’s bankruptcy filing in October of 2000. Just $16 million has gone toward 2,500 newer claims, about 9 percent of which involved people with cancer.

The irony in this story is the fact that people who have contracted mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos have a life expectancy of twelve to eighteen months. One attorney in Tennessee filed a number of claims twelve months ago and has yet to see any of his clients receive a dime. The problem is simply the sheer volume of claims to be processed.