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Oglebay Norton may get toxic tort personal injury claimants committee
By Jeff Pines
Washington, March 30 - Oglebay Norton Co. may have to deal with a toxic personal injury claimants committee if five law firms get their way.
The Maritime Asbestos Legal Clinic, a division of The Jaques Admiralty Law Firm; Kelley & Ferraro, LLP; Bevan Associates, LPA, Inc.; Baron & Budd, PC; and Silber Pearlman LLP filed a March 29 motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware asking the judge to order the U.S. trustee to appoint a committee.
The law firms represent 15,783 claimants with asbestos-related diseases and 483 claimants with silica-related diseases.
Oglebay Norton is a Cleveland-based industrial minerals and aggregates company.
The attorneys said they were not notified about the decision to appoint an official committee of unsecured creditors so they were unable to ask to be on that committee.
They argue that the unsecured creditors' committee as it is composed does not represent the interests of their clients. Their clients are asserting claims alleging the company broke the law, whereas the creditors have contractual claims and the attorneys said the creditors have "no real interest or experience" in helping their clients.
Another reason for creating the committee, they argue, is that as far as they know Oglebay Norton has no insurance for toxic injury claims, which means their clients and the creditors will be battling over the same pot of money.
An April 14 hearing is scheduled.
In addition, a group of shareholders also filed a motion requesting an order for the judge to appoint an official equity holders' committee. The hearing for that motion is scheduled for April 7.
The company filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 27. Oglebay Norton's Chapter 11 case number is 04-10558.
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