Garlock co-defendant Ford access to evidence stayed pending appeals

By Kali Hays

New York, July 11 – An amended order allowing Garlock Sealing Technologies, LLC's co-defendant Ford Motor Co. access to documents gathered during Garlock’s asbestos liability trial has been stayed by the court, according to a July 11 order with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

The stay will be lifted within one business day after the 14-day period allowed under the Bankruptcy Code for a party to file notice of an appeal if no appeals to the amended order have been filed.

This is the second stay preventing Ford from accessing the documents, the first of which was obtained by Garlock’s official committee of asbestos personal injury claimants on May 7.

As previously reported, the asbestos committee received court recognition of a privacy amendment to a May 6 order granting Ford access to the sealed evidence on Wednesday.

The asbestos committee sought the amendment to “correct a clear error of law and to prevent manifest injustice” by preventing distribution of documents to unauthorized parties and by requiring removal of certain personal information of claimants, according to the motion.

Ford sought access to the sealed documents in light of the Garlock trail court finding "widespread and demonstrable misconduct by asbestos claimants or their attorneys" during litigation to enhance recovery from the company, according to a memorandum supporting Ford's request.

Ford has been a co-defendant with Garlock in numerous asbestos-related cases and said that "this problem is pervasive and substantial enough to warrant further inquiry," as it may have been "defrauded in some of the same cases," according to a motion.

Garlock is a subsidiary of Charlotte, N.C.-based EnPro Industries, which makes sealing products, bearings, compressors and engines. Garlock filed for bankruptcy on June 5, 2010, under Chapter 11 case number 10-31607.

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