CHAPTER 55. ACTIONS, SUITS AND ARBITRATION; JUDICIAL SALE.

ARTICLE 7I. SUCCESSOR ASBESTOS-RELATED LIABILITY.

§55-7I-3. Applicability.

(a) The limitations in section four of this article shall apply to a domestic corporation or a foreign corporation that has had a certificate of authority to transact business in this state or has done business in this state and that is a successor which became a successor prior to May 13, 1968, or which is any of that successor corporation’s successors, but in the latter case only to the extent of the limitation of liability applied under subsection (b), section four of this article and subject also to the limitations found in this article, including those in subsection (b) of this section.

(b) The limitations in section four of this article shall not apply to:

(1) Workers’ compensation benefits paid by or on behalf of an employer to an employee under the provisions of chapter twenty-three of this code or a comparable workers’ compensation law of another jurisdiction;

(2) Any claim against a corporation that does not constitute a successor asbestos-related liability;

(3) An insurance corporation;

(4) Any obligation under the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U. S. C. Section 151, et seq., as amended, or under any collective bargaining agreement;

(5) A successor that, after a merger or consolidation, continued in the business of mining asbestos or in the business of selling or distributing asbestos fibers or in the business of manufacturing, distributing, removing or installing asbestos-containing products which were the same or substantially the same as those products previously manufactured, distributed, removed or installed by the transferor;

(6) A contractual obligation existing as of the effective date of this article that was entered into with claimants or potential claimants or their counsel and which resolves asbestos claims or potential asbestos claims;

(7) Any claim made against the estate of a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding commenced prior to the effective date of this article, under the United States Bankruptcy Code, 11 U. S. C. Section 101, et seq., by or against such debtor, or against a bankruptcy trust established under 11 U. S. C. Section 524(g) or similar provision of the United States Code in such a bankruptcy; and

(8) A successor asbestos-related liability arising under common law or statute for premises liability, or a cause of action for premises liability, as applicable, but only if the successor owned or controlled the premise or premises at issue after the merger or consolidation.

Bill History For §55-7I-3