319
Families condemn Koch brothers over ploy to avoid asbestos compensation (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Georgia-Pacific, owned by Koch Industries, employ controversial legal tactic to circumvent paying millions to sickened workers

Asbestos victims, their families and attorneys are claiming a Koch Industries-owned company and its lawyers are using a controversial bankruptcy maneuver to avoid paying millions in compensation to its former employees.

Workers at Georgia-Pacific, a paper and building products company, have been locked in a years-long battle with a company over claims asbestos in its products caused fatal cancers.

The case has come as the Koch brothers’ political network has pushed for legislation to protect companies facing asbestos-related claims and limit payouts for victims.

Koch Industries bought Georgia-Pacific in 2005. The company faces over 60,000 asbestos lawsuits but has not paid out anything since 2017 when the company conducted a controversial maneuver known as the “Texas two-step”.

top 21 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] ceenote@lemmy.world 85 points 10 months ago

Since the summary stops just short of explaining what they're doing: They're creating an LLC (in Texas) that will assume liability for all the damages, but has no assets of its own and exists only to declare bankruptcy so as to avoid paying. It's a loophole that obviously was deliberately created to be used in exactly this way.

[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 44 points 10 months ago

this should be criminal activity

[-] godzillabacter@lemmy.world 40 points 10 months ago

It's so funny because it is criminal activity for regular non-corporation people. Transferring assets to family/hiding assets for the purposes of declaring bankruptcy but not losing the assets is illegal. Functionally identical to what is going on here, except they're somehow transferring the liability instead of the assets.

[-] noride@lemm.ee 24 points 10 months ago

Same thing DuPont did to try a shuck PFAS liability onto newly created Chemours chemical company.

[-] albert180@feddit.de 16 points 10 months ago

Didn't Johnson and Johnson try the same and failed with their Baby Powder?

[-] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

Yes, and I'm curious why they think this will work.

Georgia Pacific was found to be liable, not this LLC

[-] albert180@feddit.de 8 points 10 months ago

Maybe it's about maintaining the image of being the biggest assholes inside of the United States at this point

[-] hglman@lemmy.ml 11 points 10 months ago

If it works, civil suits are dead.

[-] _sideffect@lemmy.world 34 points 10 months ago

Fucking pieces of shit. No empathy at all; eating the rich sounds tastier every fucking day

[-] kool_newt@lemm.ee 7 points 10 months ago

Can we make a "turducken"? How about a bezmuskoch?

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago

You know who else just loves asbestos?

https://whyy.org/articles/trump-wants-to-make-asbestos-great-again/

Well, for starters, he loves asbestos. In one of his ghostwritten books, he lauds asbestos as “incredible fire-proofing material” and “the greatest fireproofing material ever made” and a “heavyweight champion.” He didn’t like the decision, by construction officials at the World Trade Center, to halt the use of asbestos in 1971 after 400 tons had been installed. Four years after the towers fell on 9/11, Trump told Congress: “A lot of people say that if the World Trade Center had asbestos it wouldn’t have burned down, it wouldn’t have melted, OK?” (“A lot of people” turned out to be junk scientists. The credible consensus is that the towers would have fallen anyway. The 400 tons of asbestos from the building was spewed into the air – and still imperils the health of people who cleaned up at Ground Zero. One health study says: “Malignant mesothelioma resulting from exposure to asbestos, for example, may not become evident for 30-50 years.”)

[-] anarchrist@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 10 months ago

I thought it was just the one brother now....

[-] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

Isn't that just so nice to type out?

Thanks for putting a spring in my step today.

[-] pandapoo@sh.itjust.works 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Not really. He died having won all his battles.

If he died at hands of some rough trade gone wrong, that would feel good.

If he died because one of these cancer striken plant workers had killed him, that would have felt better

But no, he died after helping reshape America in his disgusting image, so no, it doesn't feel like a win because he died on his own terms.

[-] xhieron@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Well, if you're a materialist, he no longer exists in any way, and we can all rejoice for having outlived him.

And if you're religious at all, then perhaps there is some cosmic justice for him, and the scales may someday balance.

Either way he's dead, and while I can't bring myself to celebrate the death of any man, there's no denying the world may well be a better place without him.

[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 8 points 10 months ago

it would be nicer if it mattered. 1 down 1 to go

[-] cannibalkitteh@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 10 months ago

There's actually 3 brothers still alive, but 2 are largely uninvolved with Koch Industries.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 1 points 10 months ago

1 was pushed out of the family for being gay

[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 11 points 10 months ago

I love pissing on a grave just as much as the next guy, but allowing anyone to convince you that the Koch "brothers" are to blame might accidentally distract you from the fact that the Koch name is so powerful and evil that even in death, David Koch has more political weight than you'll ever have. We're the power that runs the American machine, yet dead people money is more powerful than us.

Remember: half of the Koch brothers is dead and nothing will get better when the other half dies unless you include the assholes who are more willing to help rich dead people than the starving masses. Eat the rich and fuck their corrupt political counterparts.

[-] Illuminostro@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The remaining brother is throwing metric fucktons of money at right wing lobbyists, politicians, colleges, and YouTube right wing grifters who brainwash young white men to their ideology. His poison will live long after he's dead.

[-] ReallyKinda@kbin.social 10 points 10 months ago

The Koch brothers funded a ‘policy institute’ at a public college to help train the next generation of asbestos advocates.

this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024
319 points (99.1% liked)

News

23406 readers
1638 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
rjc@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
Tenthrow@lemmy.world
JonsJava@lemmy.world
gedaliyah@lemmy.world
little_cow@lemmy.world
jeffw@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world