Baltimore firm reaches $57M settlement with estate, firm of Peter Angelos

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A Baltimore-based law firm has reached a $57 million class-action settlement with the Estate of Peter G. Angelos and The Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos over claims that Angelos’ firm waited too long to recover additional insurance in a 1994 settlement agreement with a Baltimore asbestos installer.

Gallagher Evelius & Jones reached the settlement, approved by the Baltimore City Circuit Court, on Friday with Angelos’ estate and firm.

Gallagher brought the class-action lawsuit in February 2021 on behalf of three individual plaintiffs and thousands of current and former clients of the Angelos firm who participated in a 1994 settlement agreement with Baltimore-are asbestos installer MCIC Inc. That settlement had been predicated on an agreement that MCIC’s insurers would pay all available insurance to a settlement fund for proportional distribution to the claimants.

The class-action lawsuit eventually arose from decisions by Maryland courts that Angelos’ firm waited too long to recover certain additional insurance that had not been disclosed by MCIC’s insurers.

Angelos’ firm denies liability.

“Thousands of families will receive meaningful payments through this settlement agreement,” said Paul S. Caiola, lead counsel for the plaintiff class, in a news release. “Gallagher is proud to devote its resources and expertise to advocating for just causes on behalf of members of our Baltimore community and beyond.”

Angelos, whose personal injury firm won hundreds of millions of dollars in asbestos cases over the years, fell ill in 2018 and became no longer able to practice law. He died in March.

The funds for the settlement come primarily from Angelos’ estate, according to a spokesperson for Gallagher Evelius & Jones.

Jay Miller, general counsel for the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos, said the settlement attests to Angelos’ devotion to his clients.

“We are delighted that Peter’s legacy and the ongoing commitment of his family have ensured a resolution that serves to add further benefit for so many historic clients of our firm,” Miller said in a news release. “We look forward to continuing to honor his legacy through our work at the law firm he founded, and for which his name lives on.”

The settlement was approved by Judge John S. Nugent.