Crane Co. Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma Claims

By David Meldofsky, California-licensed attorney · Founder, Lawsuit Informer

Last updated: September 6, 2026

If you rebuilt steam valves for a living, you handled Crane parts. Crane Co. was one of the biggest valve makers in the country, and its valves ran in ship engine rooms, power plants, refineries, and factory steam lines for most of the twentieth century. Those valves were sealed with asbestos gaskets and asbestos packing, and Crane also sold sheet gasket material called Cranite that workers cut to size by hand. People who did that work have been diagnosed with mesothelioma decades later, and Crane has been one of the most often named companies in asbestos lawsuits.

Important:

This page provides general educational information about Crane Co. asbestos litigation and does not constitute medical or legal advice. Allegations described here reflect claims made in litigation.

Key Takeaways:

Crane Co. made valves. It is not the company behind construction cranes, and the two are often confused in searches.
Since August 2022 the asbestos claims are handled by Redco Corporation, a former Crane subsidiary now owned by Spruce Lake Liability Management.
No bankruptcy was filed, so there is no trust to submit a claim form to. These are still lawsuits.
Exposure allegations center on valve gaskets and stem packing, and on Cranite sheet material cut and punched by hand.

First, a Common Mix-Up

Crane Co. takes its name from Richard Teller Crane, the man who started it. It has nothing to do with the lifting cranes on a construction site. If you operated a crane and are worried about asbestos, the exposure you are thinking of usually came from insulation, brake and clutch materials, or the buildings being torn down around you, and those are covered on our pages about asbestos exposure in construction and demolition and asbestos exposure from brakes and clutches.

This page is about the valve company. If you worked on steam valves, gaskets, or packing, you are in the right place.

Company Background

Crane Co. started in Chicago in 1855 as a brass foundry and grew into one of the country's dominant makers of valves, fittings, and steam equipment. Crane valves were standard hardware anywhere steam ran hot and under pressure: ship engine rooms, power plants, refineries, chemical plants, paper mills, and the steam systems of large buildings.

Two product lines drive the lawsuits. The first is the valves, which used asbestos gaskets where the bonnet and flanges bolted together and asbestos packing around the moving stem. The second is Cranite, a sheet of asbestos gasket material Crane sold for decades. Workers cut their own gaskets from it.

How Asbestos Exposure Happened Around Crane Valves

The metal valve body was never the hazard. The asbestos was in the parts that sealed it, and the exposure happened during maintenance. Rebuilding a steam valve meant scraping or wire-brushing baked-on gasket material off the flange faces and digging worn packing rings out with picks and hooks. New gaskets were often cut on site from asbestos sheet, including Cranite, using shears or a knife, with bolt holes punched through.

Every one of those steps made dust, and this was not occasional work. A single plant or engine room held hundreds of valves, and crews worked through them year after year. For the wider picture, see asbestos exposure from industrial valves, pumps, and gaskets.

Jobs and Sites Often Involved

Pipefitters and steamfitters who broke down and rebuilt valve joints
Navy boiler technicians and machinist's mates, since Crane valves served throughout ship steam systems
Powerhouse and boiler room workers in plants running high-pressure steam
Refinery, chemical plant, and paper mill maintenance crews
Millwrights and machinists who cut replacement gaskets from asbestos sheet
Building engineers maintaining steam heating systems in large facilities

Who Answers a Crane Asbestos Claim Now

This changed in 2022, and it is the part most older write-ups get wrong.

Crane put its asbestos liabilities and the related insurance into a subsidiary called Redco Corporation. On August 12, 2022 it sold Redco to Spruce Lake Liability Management, a company that exists to take over and administer old corporate liabilities. Crane put roughly $550 million in cash into Redco before the sale, and Spruce Lake added $83 million. Crane's own filings state that the asbestos obligations and the related insurance came off its balance sheet that day.

Two things follow from this, and they pull in different directions.

No bankruptcy was filed. That means there is no Crane trust fund, no claim form, and no published payment percentage. A claim over Crane valves or Cranite is still a lawsuit that moves on a court's schedule. But the company on the other side is now Redco, managed by Spruce Lake, rather than the manufacturer whose name is stamped on the valve. Sorting out the right entity to name is ordinary work in asbestos cases, and our guide to asbestos defendant successor companies explains how that tracing is done.

Crane Co. in Asbestos Litigation

For decades Crane was among the most frequently named companies in asbestos litigation, in essentially every industrial state and in a large share of Navy and maritime cases.

The central fight has been over parts made by somebody else. Crane argued for years that it should not answer for gaskets and packing that other companies supplied and that were installed in its valves after they left the factory. In 2016 New York's highest court rejected that argument in a case brought by a Navy boiler technician, holding that Crane had a duty to warn where its valves needed asbestos parts to work in high-heat service. The United States Supreme Court reached a similar conclusion for maritime cases in 2019. How it comes out still varies by state, which is one reason exposure details and product identification matter so much.

A lawsuit here also does not rule out other recoveries. Most workers handled many products over a career, and claims against manufacturers that did go bankrupt are often filed with asbestos trust funds at the same time.

Illnesses Discussed in These Cases

Mesothelioma
Asbestos-related lung cancer
Asbestosis
Other asbestos-related conditions examined in litigation

Asbestos diseases take a long time to show up, often 10 to 50 years between exposure and diagnosis. That is why claims filed today so often involve work done in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s. See how asbestos exposure is proven decades later and asbestos claim deadlines after symptoms appear.

Records That Help Support a Crane Co. Claim

Because there is no trust process here, the evidence carries the case. Work history and union records, Social Security earnings statements, ship and plant records placing Crane valves or Cranite at a site, testimony from co-workers, and medical records tying the diagnosis together all matter. Our guide to asbestos records that help support a claim goes through each of these.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Crane Co. the same company that makes construction cranes?

No. Crane Co. is a valve and fittings manufacturer named after its founder, Richard Teller Crane. The lifting equipment used on construction sites is made by unrelated companies. The name overlap sends a lot of people to the wrong page.

Is there a Crane Co. asbestos trust fund?

No. Crane never filed for bankruptcy, so no trust was created and there is no claim form to submit. Claims are lawsuits. Since August 2022 the asbestos liabilities have been held by Redco Corporation, a former Crane subsidiary now owned by Spruce Lake Liability Management, which administers the claims.

What was Cranite?

Cranite was an asbestos-containing sheet gasket material Crane sold for decades. Workers describe cutting replacement gaskets out of Cranite sheet with shears or knives and punching bolt holes through it, work that plaintiffs allege released asbestos fibers into the air they were breathing.

Can Crane be responsible for gaskets made by other companies?

That question has been fought over heavily. New York's highest court held in 2016 that Crane had a duty to warn where its valves required asbestos parts to work in high-heat service, and the United States Supreme Court reached a similar conclusion for maritime cases in 2019. The answer in any given case depends on the state and on the facts.

Diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, or asbestosis? Filing deadlines often begin from the date of diagnosis, not exposure. See if your situation may qualify with a free, no-obligation case review.

See If Your Situation May Qualify

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Sources

Figures and dates above should be confirmed against the original sources.

Related Asbestos Guides

About the Author

David Meldofsky is a California-licensed attorney and the founder of Lawsuit Informer, an educational platform focused on helping people understand lawsuits, consumer safety issues, and legal rights related to defective products and toxic exposures.

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Last Updated: September 6, 2026

Educational information only. Not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed.