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Confidential Treatment Has Been Requested Pursuant to SEC Rule 83 for Information Included In the Responses to Comments 1 and 2 Which Information Has Been Delivered to the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance |
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Thomas P. Conaghan Attorney at Law tconaghan@mwe.com 202.756.8161 |
Re: | Form S-4 Registration Statement of American Standard
Inc., American Standard Companies Inc. and American Standard International Inc. |
1. | We read your responses to our comment 50 from our letter dated June 10, 2005 and comment 11 from our letter dated August 18, 2005. You disclosed that costs associated with claims that might be filed against you in the future were not |
recorded because you did not believe your history and experience with asbestos-related litigation was sufficient to allow it to make a reasonable estimate of this liability. You also disclosed that because claims are frequently filed and settled in large groups, the amount and timing of settlements, as well as the number of open claims, can fluctuate significantly from period to period. You also indicated that approximately 40% of all claims filed against you were filed in a 20-plus year period prior to 2002, 40% were filed in the 16-month period from January 2002 through April 2003, and the remaining 20% were spread relatively evenly over the next 20 months through December 2004. You disclosed that you believed the dramatic increase in filings in the 16-month period from January 2002 through April 2003 was influenced by the bankruptcy filings of numerous asbestos defendants in asbestos-related litigation and the prospect of various forms of state and federal judicial and legislative reforms. Based on your responses and current disclosure it is still unclear how you determined you could not reasonably estimate a liability for future claims prior to the fourth quarter of 2004. Please tell us how you determined the activity related to the portion of your claims filed prior to 2002 did not provide a substantial enough basis for you to estimate your liability for future potential asbestos-related claims, with an adjustment to this estimate for any abnormality in the trend, which you attribute to be influenced by the bankruptcy filings of numerous asbestos defendants in asbestos-related litigation and the prospect of various forms of state and federal judicial and legislative reforms. Your disclosure related to retaining the assistance of Dr. Rabinovitz of HR&A indicates that Dr. Rabinovitz is a respected expert in performing complex calculations such as this and that she has been involved in a number of asbestos-related valuations of current and future liabilities, and her valuation methodologies have been accepted by numerous courts. Please tell us what factors lead you to seek the assistance of HR&A in calculating your estimate of your total liability for pending and unasserted potential future asbestos-related claims in the fourth quarter 2004, rather than in an earlier period. |
2. | We read your responses to our comment 52 from our letter dated June 10, 2005 and comment 11 from our letter dated August 18, 2005. As of December 31, 2004, your total receivable for probable asbestos-related insurance recoveries was $406 million. You also stated that approximately $292 million of your recorded asbestos receivable is in litigation in New Jersey. Please supplementally provide us with the following information related to the period 1999 through the present: |
• | historically, the total amount of claims from insurance companies you have received related to previously recorded asbestos receivables and |
• | historically, the amount of asbestos receivables previously recorded, for which you later determined were uncollectible. |
cc: | Mark Cresitello, Esq., American Standard Companies Inc. Neal J. White, Esq., MWE (Chicago) David A. Cifrino, Esq., MWE (Boston) Rufus Decker, Branch Chief, Division of Corporation Finance, SEC Lesli Sheppard, Senior Staff Attorney, Division of Corporation Finance, SEC Meagan Caldwell, Staff Accountant, Division of Corporation Finance, SEC Tamara Brightwell, Staff Attorney, Division of Corporation Finance, SEC |