Boeing Co.'s potential financial exposure from building defective commercial satellites continues to climb, with the company facing two additional negligence and breach-of-contract claims totaling 610 million dollars, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The latest actions, disclosed by the Chicago aerospace company in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, underscore that insurance companies increasingly are joining satellite operators to pursue such arbitration claims against Boeing.

But in the filing, Boeing said all the claims lack merit and it intends to fight them, according to the report.

One of the latest actions, filed by insurance companies that covered a satellite for Japan's Space Communications Corp., extends beyond the issue of defective solar-power arrays on Boeing's 702 satellite models, the primary focus of controversy and litigation over the years.

Instead, the Japanese claim of 215 million dollars involves damages to a smaller, 601-model satellite which was taken out of orbit less than a year after launch, said the report.

A second claim, filed jointly by Telesat Canada and its insurers, amounts to as much as 395 million dollars and covers alleged malfunctions on a 702 satellite that faltered in orbit after suffering electrical problems.

Overall, industry officials have said Boeing could face significantly more than 1.5 billion dollars in damage claims resulting from various satellite defects, said the report.