Travelers Wins Asbestos Ruling

New York, NY, Aug. 5--Insurer Travelers Property Casualty Corp. said on Friday it won a favorable ruling from a legal arbitration panel on asbestos claims by bankrupt ACandS Inc., which could save it from more than $1 billion dollars in payouts. Its shares jumped as much as nearly six percent in a broadly lower market. According to Travelers, the panel issued a confidential ruling late on Thursday saying asbestos-related injury claims made by ACandS in the future would be subject to Travelers' overall insurance policy limits, which have already been exhausted. That would mean no further payouts for ACandS, the former insulation installing unit of Armstrong World Industries Inc which filed for bankruptcy last year under the weight of about 270,000 asbestos claims. The company is now looking to emerge from bankruptcy with the help of insurers, chiefly Travelers, which it hopes will pay a large share of those claims. Travelers said it expected that ACandS would claim that Travelers must pay 45 percent of its unpaid but purportedly settled asbestos claims before the arbitration decision, worth about $2.8 billion. Travelers said it believes it has defenses to potential ACandS claims, which could eliminate or substantially reduce any insurance payouts.