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Another big Atlanta company is choking on asbestos lawsuits.
National Service Industries Inc., the 17th-largest public company based in Georgia, is fending off tens of thousands of asbestos claims.
The company's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Nov. 29 states that during the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, it was served with approximately 30,000 asbestos-related claims and settled approximately 16,000 claims for an average of about $1,035 per claim. (That includes approximately 200 claims that were dismissed with no payment).
NSI (NYSE: NSI) is not alone. Atlantabased Georgia-Pacific Corp. (NYSE: GP) has some 52,000 asbestos-related lawsuits pending against it in U.S. courts, all claiming that asbestos-containing products it made back in the 1960s have contributed to, or could create, health problems.
Other U.S. manufacturers and companies that had business involving asbestos are fighting mounting lawsuits and settlements that could top $20 billion in the coming years, according to experts.
Mounting asbestos lawsuits have already felled some fairly large manufacturers: Fiberglass-maker Owens-Corning (NYSE: OWC); Armstrong World Industries, a floor-and ceiling-maker subsidiary of Armstrong Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ACK); power plant equipmentmaker Babcock & Wilcox Co.; and glass products producer Pittsburgh Corning Corp., all filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000.
Others continue to choke on these lawsuits, including buildingproducts-maker USG Corp. (NYSE: USG), which after earmarking more than $900 million to cover asbestos litigation in January, ended up filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June.
And as the main asbestos producers fall by the wayside, experts say litigation attorneys will go after peripheral companies - those that may have only...