Asbestos victims win $57 million class-action settlement with estate of Peter Angelos

Thousands of Marylanders are eligible for a piece of a $57 million class-action settlement with the Estate of Peter Angelos and his law offices, according to a news release from law firm Gallagher Evelius & Jones.

Baltimore City Circuit Court approved the settlement agreement on Friday, the release said. The firm represented three individual plaintiffs and a class of thousands who participated in a 1994 settlement agreement with Baltimore-area asbestos installer MCIC, Inc., formerly known as McCormick Asbestos Company.

The firm’s release said that the 1994 settlement had been predicated on an agreement that MCIC’s insurers would pay out all available insurance to a settlement fund.

“The class action lawsuit arose from decisions by Maryland courts that Defendants waited too long to recover certain additional insurance that had not been disclosed by MCIC’s insurers,” the firm said in the release. “Defendants deny liability but agreed to the $57 million class settlement with the expectation that these funds will bring meaningful relief to Marylanders.”

The class action was filed in 2021. A spokesperson for Gallagher Evelius & Jones did not return requests for comment Monday.

According to a website for potential class recipients, the Law Offices of Peter Angelos reached a settlement agreement with MCIC worth between $1,000 and $9,500 per claim in 1994. Around 1998, the Angelos firm discovered “substantial additional insurance applicable to the claims,” according to Gallagher Evelius & Jones. MCIC and its insurers did not distribute the additional insurance claims, and the Angelos firm filed a motion to enforce the settlement agreement in 2002, which was dismissed on the grounds that too much time had passed.

In 2021, the plaintiffs represented by Gallagher Evelius & Jones filed a lawsuit alleging legal malpractice over the MCIC settlement agreement and named the Law Offices of Peter Angelos and some of its attorneys as defendants, Gallagher Evelius & Jones said. The settlement in that case will now pay $57 million to potentially more than 7,000 beneficiaries based on their injury categories set in the 1994 MCIC settlement.

Gallagher Evelius & Jones said the funds for the settlement are mostly from Angelos’ estate. The former owner of the Orioles died at 94 in March 2023. Angelos won more than $1 billion in damages from asbestos companies during the 1990s.

“We are delighted that Peter’s legacy and the ongoing commitment of his family have ensured a resolution that serves to add further benefit for so many historic clients of our firm,” Jay Miller, general counsel of the Law Offices of Peter Angelos said in the news release.

Notice of the class settlement was issued to class members earlier this year, and initial payments are expected to start in January, Gallagher Evelius & Jones said.

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