The following definitions apply in this Article:

(1)        Asbestos claim. – Any claim, wherever or whenever made, for damages, losses, indemnification, contribution, or other relief arising out of, based on, or in any way related to asbestos, including any of the following:

a.         The health effects of exposure to asbestos, including a claim for personal injury or death, mental or emotional injury, risk of disease or other injury, or the costs of medical monitoring or surveillance.

b.         Any claim made by or on behalf of any person exposed to asbestos or a representative, spouse, parent, child, or other relative of the person.

c.         Any claim for damage or loss caused by the installation, presence, or removal of asbestos.

(2)        Corporation. – Any corporation established under either domestic or foreign charter and includes a corporate subsidiary and any business entity in which a corporation participates or is a stockholder, a partner, or a joint venturer.

(3)        Successor. – A corporation that assumes or incurs or has assumed or incurred successor asbestos-related liabilities through operation of law, including, but not limited to, a merger or consolidation or plan of merger or consolidation related to such consolidation or merger or by appointment as administrator or as trustee in bankruptcy, debtor in possession, liquidation, or receivership and that became a successor before January 1, 1972. Successor includes any of that successor corporation’s successors.

(4)        Successor asbestos-related liability. – Any liabilities, whether known or unknown, asserted or unasserted, absolute or contingent, accrued or unaccrued, liquidated or unliquidated, or due or to become due, which are related in any way to asbestos claims and were assumed or incurred by a corporation as a result of or in connection with a merger or consolidation, or the plan of merger or consolidation related to the merger or consolidation with or into another corporation, or that are related in any way to asbestos claims based on the exercise of control or the ownership of stock of the corporation before the merger or consolidation. The term includes liabilities that, after the time of the merger or consolidation for which the fair market value of total gross assets is determined under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 99E-53, were or are paid or otherwise discharged or committed to be paid or otherwise discharged, by or on behalf of the corporation or by a successor of the corporation, or by or on behalf of a transferor, in connection with settlements, judgments, or other discharges in this State or another jurisdiction.

(5)        Transferor. – A corporation from which successor asbestos-related liabilities are or were assumed or incurred. ?(2014-110, s. 4.1.)