A-Best Products Co. Asbestos Trust Claims

A-Best Asbestos Trust Facts

Trust Formation and Purpose

The official Trust website states that the A-Best Asbestos Settlement Trust was established because of the bankruptcy of A-Best Products Company. Its purpose is to provide fair, equitable and substantially similar treatment to present and future asbestos bodily-injury claimants.

An official 2020 Trust amendment notice identifies the A-Best Asbestos Settlement Trust Agreement as having been entered on February 23, 2004 between the Trustee and A-Best Products Company, Inc.

The First Amended TDP reviewed for this page was adopted March 22, 2005. It establishes a four-level disease schedule, medical and exposure requirements, FIFO processing rules, filing deadlines, payment-percentage procedures and other claim-resolution provisions.

Disease Levels and Scheduled Values

The official TDP establishes four asbestos-related Disease Levels with the following Scheduled Values:

Unlike many other asbestos trusts, the A-Best TDP table reviewed for this page does not publish a separate Average Value and Maximum Value schedule alongside these four Scheduled Values. This page therefore does not invent those figures.

The values are claim-liquidation benchmarks, not guaranteed cash payments. Any actual payment is subject to the Trust’s applicable Payment Percentage and the claimant satisfying the TDP’s medical, exposure, filing and procedural requirements.

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Published 18% Payment Percentage

The latest official A-Best payment-percentage adjustment located on the Trust’s current Resources page is the Trustee’s 2020 notice reducing the Payment Percentage from 21% to 18%, effective on or about September 1, 2020.

The official TDP explains that the Trustee may change the Payment Percentage as needed after considering present and future claim estimates, available Trust assets, expenses and other matters affecting the Trust’s ability to pay comparable percentages of full liquidated value over time.

No later official A-Best payment-percentage notice was located on the Trust’s current public Resources page during this build. Accordingly, this page identifies 18% as the latest officially published A-Best rate located rather than claiming a later undocumented percentage.

Mathematical illustration only — not a guaranteed payment. The $30,500 Mesothelioma Scheduled Value × 18% = $5,490. The $6,800 Lung Cancer Scheduled Value × 18% = $1,224. The $2,800 Other Cancer Scheduled Value × 18% = $504. The $1,100 Non-Malignant Disease Scheduled Value × 18% = $198.

Claim Processing and FIFO Rules

The TDP uses first-in, first-out processing queues and provides separate treatment for malignant and nonmalignant claims. Before the Claims Filing Bar Date, the Trust processes only claims in the Malignant Claims Queue; after that date, the Trustee may establish a different processing order under the TDP.

The TDP also states that a claimant seeking Trust payment must first file a proof-of-claim form with supporting documentation. It further states that no claim is eligible for payment unless the claimant has initiated a lawsuit for recovery of damages for the asbestos-related injury in the tort system.

Payments on liquidated claims remain subject to the applicable Payment Percentage. The Trustee retains discretion over the order in which claims are paid and may suspend payments under the TDP.

Medical and Exposure Requirements

Mesothelioma Level IV requires a qualifying mesothelioma diagnosis, occupational exposure at a listed worksite to a specific asbestos-containing product manufactured or distributed by A-Best or its predecessors, six months of exposure to A-Best asbestos-containing products, and five years of cumulative occupational asbestos exposure.

Lung Cancer Level III requires a qualifying primary lung-cancer diagnosis, evidence of an underlying bilateral asbestos-related nonmalignant disease, qualifying A-Best worksite/product exposure, medical support that asbestos exposure was a contributing factor, six months of exposure to A-Best asbestos-containing products and five years of cumulative occupational asbestos exposure.

Other Cancer Level II uses similar A-Best exposure requirements and covers specified primary cancers under the TDP. Level I requires a qualifying bilateral asbestos-related nonmalignant disease together with the required A-Best product and worksite exposure evidence.

The current Trust Claim Form also permits a claimant to report secondary exposure through an occupationally exposed person, but the underlying A-Best exposure still must satisfy the Trust’s requirements.

Filing Requirements and $18 Fee

The official A-Best Claim Form requires injured-party information, disease information, asbestos-litigation history, occupational exposure information, product identification and supporting documentation. The checklist requires medical records supporting the claimed Disease Level and proof of A-Best product exposure.

The Trust’s official filing-fee notice imposes an $18 filing fee per applicable claim. The fee is maintained in a separate escrow account and is refunded to a claimant who settles the claim and returns a signed release. A claimant whose claim is denied or withdrawn forfeits the fee.

Claims that are immediately deferred are exempt from the fee, allowing a claimant to preserve the Trust’s applicable limitations tolling without paying the filing fee at that stage.

The TDP contains its own Claims Filing Bar Date, statute-of-limitations and tolling provisions. Because filing timeliness can depend on diagnosis date, prior tort-system filings and other facts, the deadline should be evaluated under the current Trust rules for the individual claim.

Important A-Best Claim Distinctions

The Trust is the A-Best Asbestos Settlement Trust; the debtor is A-Best Products Company, Inc. The page does not substitute similarly named companies or unrelated asbestos trusts.

The published TDP uses four Scheduled Values and does not provide the conventional Scheduled/Average/Maximum matrix found in many other trusts. Only the values confirmed in the official A-Best TDP are presented here.

The official 2020 notice reduced the Payment Percentage to 18%. Because the Trust’s public Resources page does not display a later official adjustment notice, the page carefully describes 18% as the latest officially published rate located.

No sufficiently current official audited 2025 or 2026 financial report was located in the Trust’s public materials establishing current total assets, cumulative claims paid or lifetime dollars paid. Those figures are omitted rather than copied from law-firm, lead-generation or secondary trust-data websites.

Confirmed Primary Sources for Trust Facts

No law-firm or lead-generation website was used as factual authority for this page. Primary Trust materials reviewed include:

• Official A-Best Asbestos Settlement Trust website.
• Official A-Best Trust history and purpose.
• Official A-Best Resources page.
• Official First Amended Trust Distribution Procedures.
• Official 2020 notice reducing the Payment Percentage from 21% to 18%.
• Official $18 filing-fee notice.
• Official A-Best Claim Form.
• Official 2020 Trust Agreement amendment notice identifying the February 23, 2004 Trust Agreement.

Get Help Reviewing an A-Best Products Asbestos Claim

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Prior exposure to an A-Best asbestos-containing product does not automatically establish Trust eligibility or compensation. Eligibility depends on diagnosis, product and worksite exposure evidence, occupational exposure history, filing requirements, applicable Trust procedures and individual circumstances. Compensation is not guaranteed.