A hearing was set for Jan. 2 on the motion by Manville, once the world's largest asbestos producer.

Many are already multimillionaires as the result of lawsuits brought against asbestos producers.

Once the world's leading asbestos producer, Manville completed its withdrawal from that business in 1985.

Outside of companies in bankruptcy, the impact of Manville's reorganization on asbestos producers and their insurance companies is more speculative and will not emerge until late this year.

Driven Into Bankruptcy The Manville Corporation, the largest asbestos producer in the country, was driven into bankruptcy by the volume of injury claims.

As a result, the asbestos producers and their insurers have been trying to push the liability off onto each other.

For their part, asbestos producers and carriers facing these mounting claims have little incentive to settle cases piecemeal, since their liability under such an approach appears unlimited.

Manville was the nation's leading asbestos producer when it filed for protection from its creditors six years ago under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code.

Other asbestos producers argued that the protection for Manville would make them the sole target of claims in other courts.

Judge Lifland presided over the six-year-long bankruptcy procedings of Manville, which was formerly the nation's largest asbestos producer.