Halliburton's ( HAL ) stock could finally be ready to recover from a long case of asbestos poisoning. A court order issued this week should act as the perfect antidote for the company's chronic asbestos-related problems. A bankruptcy judge on Monday approved a final settlement that paves the way for Halliburton to shed an asbestos-tainted division that has hurt the company for years. The settlement will bring in more than $1.5 billion from scores of insurance carriers to pay claimants seeking asbestos-related damages from Kellogg Brown & Root and other Halliburton subsidiaries. Halliburton exposed itself to serious asbestos liabilities when acquiring Dresser Industries, which owned part of KBR, through a 1998 merger engineered by then-CEO Dick Cheney. KBR, a combination of former Halliburton and Dresser divisions, is now in the final stages of bankruptcy proceedings.