IN RE ASBESTOS LITIGATION

Nos. 95-40635, 95-40694.

90 F.3d 963 (1996)

In re ASBESTOS LITIGATION James FLANAGAN; David H. Middleton; Kenneth Smith; Edee Cochran; Esteban Yanez Ortiz; John R. Allgood; Henry William Evers; Lester Eugene Taylor; Plant Insulation Company; Safety National Casualty Corporation, Appellants, v. Gerald AHEARN; James McAdams Dennis; Charles W. Jeep; James Drake; James Ellison; Roland Dearborn; Judith Dearborn; Kerwin Butcher; Dir., Workers Comp., Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, U.S. Dept. of Labor; Longshore Intervenor; William James Mitchell; Fibreboard Corporation; Bethlehem Steel Corporation; Continental Casualty Company; Pacific Indemnity; Francis McGovern; Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company; Columbia Casualty Company; CNA Casualty Company of California; Celotex Corp., Daniel Herman Rudd, Jr., on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated; Beverly White, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated; John Hansel, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated; Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

July 26, 1996.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Leonard C. Jaques, Michael J. Connor, The Jaques Admiralty Law Firm, Detroit, MI, for appellants.

Elihu Inselbuch, Charles Sanders McNew, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, New York City, Steven Kazan, Kazen, McClain, Edises, Simon & Abrams, Oakland, CA, for Ahearn, Dennis, Jeep, Ellison and Mitchell.

Harry Fred Wartnick, San Francisco, CA, for Ahearn, Dennis and Jeep, appellees.

Joseph F. Rice, Ness, Motley, Loadholt, Richardson & Poole, Charleston, SC, Peter Van Lockwood, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, Washington, DC, Joseph B. Cox, Jr., Cox & Cox, Sullivan's Island, SC, for Ahearn, Dennis, Jeep and Ellison, appellees.

Eric D. Green, Boston, MA, for Dennis and Jeep, appellees.

Bruce L. Ahnfeldt, Napa, CA, for Juanita Drake, appellee.

Clinton A. Krislov, Krislov & Associates, Chicago, IL, Ronald W. Lupton, Stinson, Lupton and Weiss, Bath, ME, for Roland and Judith Dearborn, Butcher and Longshore Intervenor, appellees.

Michael Scott Hertzig, Washington, DC, for Dir., Workers Comp., Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, U.S. Dept. of Labor, appellee.

Kelly C. Wooster, Stephen M. Snyder, William R. Irwin, James L. Miller, Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, San Francisco, CA, for Fibreboard Corp.

Herbert Maurice Wachtell, Meyer G. Koplow, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York City, Donald T. Ramsey, David M. Rice, Rodney L. Eshelman, Carroll, Burdick & McDonough, San Francisco, CA, for Continental Cas. Co., Columbia Cas. Co. and CNA Cas. Co. of Cal., appellees in both cases.

Billy Glynn Parker, Ireland, Carroll and Kelley, Tyler, TX, for Continental Cas. Co., appellee.

Paul J. Bschorr, Richard B. Sypher, Dewey Ballantine, Dewey Ballantine, New York City, for Pacific Indemnity, appellee.

Richard L. Josephson, Baker and Botts, Houston, TX, Robert B. Shaw, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, L.L.P., Columbia, SC, for Owens-Illinois Inc., appellee in both cases.

Gary A. Bresee, Barger and Wolen, San Francisco, CA, for Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, appellee in 95-40635.

Stuart Philip Ross, Ross, Dixon and Masback, Washington, DC, for Columbia Cas. Co. and CNA Cas. Co. of Cal., appellees.

Charles P. Schropp, Schropp, Buell & Elligett, Tampa, FL, for Celotex Corp., appellee.

Arthur H. Bryant, Anne W. Bloom, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, Washington, DC, for Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, amicus curiae in both cases.

Jeffrey Robert White, Pamela A. Liapakis, Associated Trial Lawyers of America, Washington, DC, for Association of Trial Lawyers of America, amicus curiae in both cases.

Craig A. Berrington, David F. Snyder, James L. Kimble, American Insurance Association, Washington, DC, for American Insurance Association, amicus curiae in both cases.

Scott McCullen Baldwin, Baldwin & Baldwin, Marshall, TX, for Asbestos Victims of America, amicus curiae in both cases.

James E. Coleman, Jr., Diane M. Sumoski, John Andrew Martin, Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, Dallas, TX, for Rudd, White and Hansel, appellees.

Robert L. Shaw, Westmoreland, KS, pro se.

J. Russell Stedman, Barger and Wolen, San Francisco, CA, for Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, appellee in 95-40694.

Frederick M. Baron, Brent M. Rosenthal, Steve Baughman (argued), Baron & Budd, P.C., Dallas, TX, Sidney Katherine Powell (argued), S. Ann Saucer, Powell & Associates, Dallas, TX, for Ortiz, Cochran, Taylor, Allgood and Evers, amicus curiae.

Before REAVLEY, DAVIS and SMITH, Circuit Judges.


W. EUGENE DAVIS, Circuit Judge:

In this consolidated appeal, we consider a number of challenges to the district court's approval of a class settlement of future asbestos victims with Fibreboard along with several related settlements. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court's judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Procedural and Factual History

Fibreboard, primarily engaged in the timber business, also manufactured asbestos...

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