Albany Lists 21,688 Asbestos Suits In February 
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Published March 28, 2003

Albany International Corp. (AIN) said it was defending about 21,688 
asbestos-related lawsuits as of Feb. 28, according to its annual 
report. 

This compares with 22,593 claims as of Dec. 31, 2002, and 7,922 claims 
as of Oct. 31, 2002. 

The company said the lawsuits assert a variety of lung and other 
diseases based on alleged exposure to asbestos-containing products 
previously manufactured by Albany International and related companies. 

Although it believes it has meritorious defenses to these claims, 
Albany International has settled some of these cases for amounts it 
considers reasonable. Liberty Mutual, its insurer, says the company has 
defended each case under a standard reservation of rights. 

As of Feb. 28, Albany International had resolved, through settlement or 
dismissal, 4,348 claims and has reached tentative agreement to resolve 
an additional 4,563 claims reported above as pending. 

The total cost of resolving all 8,911 such claims is about $4,800,000. 
Of this amount, the company said its insurance carrier paid for 99%. It 
has more than $130,000,000 in confirmed insurance coverage that should 
be available with relation to current and future asbestos claims, as 
well as additional insurance coverage that it should be able to get.

The lawsuits usually involve claims against defendants ranging from 20 
to more than 200. Most of the time, the suits fail to identify the 
plaintiffs' work history or the nature of the plaintiffs' alleged 
exposure to its products, Albany International said. 

Roughly 18,700 of the claims pending against the company have been 
filed in various counties in Mississippi. It expects that only a 
portion of these claimants will be able to demonstrate time spent in a 
paper mill during a period in which its asbestos-containing products 
were in use. 

Albany International and the other paper machine clothing defendants 
named in many of these cases believe that there was insufficient 
exposure to asbestos from any paper machine clothing products to cause 
asbestos-related injury to any plaintiff.
 
Asbestos contained in its synthetic products was encapsulated in a 
resin-coated yarn woven into the interior of the fabric, further 
reducing the likelihood of fiber release. 


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