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March 13, 2009 |
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ASBESTOS LITIGATION: Miss. Actions Still Ongoing v. ENSCO Int'l. ENSCO International, Inc. and certain current and former subsidiaries still face asbestos-related lawsuits in Mississippi courts. In August 2004, the Company and the subsidiaries were named as defendants in three multi-party lawsuits filed in the Circuit Courts of Jones County (Second Judicial District) and Jasper County (First Judicial District), Miss. The lawsuits sought an unspecified amount of monetary damages on behalf of individuals alleging personal injury or death, primarily under the Jones Act, purportedly resulting from exposure to asbestos on drilling rigs and associated facilities during the period 1965 through 1986. In compliance with the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, the individual claimants in the original multi-party lawsuits whose claims were not dismissed were ordered to file either new or amended single plaintiff complaints naming the specific defendant(s) against whom they intended to pursue claims. As a result, out of more than 600 initial multi-party claims, the Company has been named as a defendant by 65 individual plaintiffs. Of these claims, 62 claims or lawsuits are pending in Mississippi state courts and three are pending in the U.S. District Court as a result of their removal from state court. Most of these cases currently are under an informal stay of discovery issued by a Special Master presiding over these matters while discovery is conducted for a designated group of plaintiffs, several of which involve the Company. To date, written discovery and plaintiff depositions have taken place in seven cases pending against the Company. No further activity will occur in these cases until they are selected for trial. Currently, none of the cases pending against the Company in Mississippi has been set for trial. Discovery is still ongoing and, therefore, available information regarding the nature of all pending claims is limited. In addition to the pending cases in Mississippi, the Company has eight other asbestos or lung injury claims pending against it in litigation in various other jurisdictions. Headquartered in Dallas, ENSCO International Incorporated is an offshore contract drilling company. As of Feb. 17, 2009, its offshore rig fleet included 43 jackup rigs, two ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rigs and one barge rig. The Company also has six ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rigs under construction. |
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