Quigley asks court to reconsider order reducing asbestos claims for plan voting purposes

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Aug. 22 - Quigley Co., Inc. requested reconsideration of a court order that said the claims of settling asbestos personal injury claimants should be reduced by 90% for purposes of voting on the company's plan of reorganization, according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

According to the motion, the court ruled that asbestos claimants who agreed to settle their claims against Quigley parent Pfizer Inc. but who have not agreed to release or reduce their claims against Quigley, should have their claims against Quigley discounted for plan voting purposes.

Quigley said the sole basis for the court's ruling is that the settling claimants agreed to reduce their distributions to 10% of what they otherwise would be entitled to receive, if and to the extent there are insufficient assets to pay all claimants and future demands in full under the plan.

According to the motion, the court construed this provision of the pre-bankruptcy settlement agreements as a reduction of the claims against Quigley, when in reality, the claimants merely agreed to subordinate a portion of their distributions.

As a result, Quigley said the court is treating the claimants' limited and conditional agreement to subordinate distributions as an agreement to reduce their claims, contrary to the language of the settlement agreements that expressly allow the claimants to assert their full claims against Quigley.

Quigley, a unit of Pfizer, filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 3, 2004. Its Chapter 11 case number is 04-15739.

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