Category: NARCO

NARCO: Clarification Regarding Personal Representative Claim Form Requirements

              A.   If the Injured Party is deceased, or lacks capacity, you must provide certain information regarding a personal representative to complete your claim form.  If a personal representative has been appointed, you must provide the requisite information. If a personal representative has not yet been appointed, please follow the below instructions:

 Representative [required field for both ER and IR claims]:

If the Injured Party is deceased, or lacks capacity, and a personal representative has not yet been appointed, enter the first and last name of the individual anticipated to be the personal representative, or the first and last name of the individual instructing the law firm to file this claim.

 Representative Relationship [required field for IR claims only]:

If the Injured Party is deceased, or lacks capacity, and a personal representative has not yet been appointed, also provide “Representative Relationship” i.e. the relationship to the injured party of the person anticipated to be the personal representative or instructing the law firm to file the claim (relative, guardian/admin, or other with description).

              B.    The IR claim form asks for the Estate Tax ID if one is available.  See the below clarification regarding this field:

 Estate Tax ID [IR claim form, enter only if available]: If the estate has a Tax ID, it should be entered here. DO NOT enter the SSN, Int’l ID or Tax ID of the personal representative or the anticipated personal representative.

NARCO: NARCO Trust Exposure Directives

The NARCO Asbestos Trust has updated its NARCO Trust Directives Related to Exposure  (the “Exposure Directives”) found on the  NARCO Trust’s Documents page to reflect the Trust’s current policy on Significant Occupational Exposure allegations found in paragraph 7(c) of the Exposure Directives. [Note: These Exposure Directives have been superseded, please consult the NARCO Trust’s Documents page for the current Exposure Directives.]

NARCO: NARCO Trust Second Amended Trust Distribution Procedures and ADR Procedures

The NARCO Asbestos Trust has posted the Second Amended North American Refractories Company Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust Distribution Procedures (“Second Amended TDP”) to the NARCO Trust’s Documents page. The Second Amended TDP incorporates into one document all the amendments to the TDP that have been adopted to date and also includes a copy of the NARCO Trust’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures for NARCO Asbestos Trust Claims which can be found as attachment A to the Second Amended TDP or separately on the NARCO Trust’s Documents page.

NARCO: Claims Audit Program Update

Dear Counsel:

The Trustees of the NARCO Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust (the “Trust”) write to inform you of the formation and implementation of a Trust claims audit program (“Claims Audit Program”).

TDP section 4.8(a) provides that the Trust may conduct random or other audits to verify medical and exposure information submitted to the Trust. The Claims Audit Program establishes an audit process designed to verify the information submitted to the Trust, to ensure that each law firm maintains within its claim files documentation that supports that information, and to verify that each law firm complies with the terms and conditions of the TDP and applicable electronic filing agreements regarding the reliability of medical and exposure evidence. A fuller description of the Claims Audit Program is on the Trust’s website at https://www.narcoasbestostrust.org, under “Trust Documents” in the document titled, “Claims Audit Program.”

This notice is introductory only. No claims or law firms have yet been selected for audit. Details of the Claims Audit Program are still in development. The Trust has recently retained Mazars USA LLP (“Mazars”) to conduct the audits. Mazars is the U.S. member firm of the Mazars Group – a prominent international accounting, audit, tax and advisory services organization. If any claims submitted by you on behalf of your clients are selected for audit, you will receive a separate notification from Mazars along with more detailed information. Please be assured that Mazars recognizes the confidential nature of claim files and the need for secure transmission of claims information. Mazars will establish a secure website for such audits. Process guides and training tools will be available on the Mazars website.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the Claims Audit Program, please contact Mazars at: narco@mazars.co.uk.

Kind regards,

Honorable Ken M. Kawaichi, Ret.
Mark M. Gleason
Richard B. Schiro
Trustees of the NARCO Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust