Case Evaluation

The Asbestos Story: The Asbestos Story - New Jersey Asbestos Lawsuit Filed

Part 3: New Jersey Asbestos Lawsuit Filed

The Asbestos Story: America's Greatest Industrial Tragedy
A Tale of Deceit, Design & Temerity
By Christopher M. Placitella
Cohen, Placitella & Roth, P.C.

In 1929, Samuel Greenstone of Newark, New Jersey files the first lawsuit against Johns Manville on behalf of Anna Pirskowski in Newark Federal Court. Greenstone files another ten cases shortly thereafter.

As the number of cases of Asbestosis diagnosed in America increases, the industry becomes alarmed. Instead of acknowledging its responsibility, members of the American Asbestos industry meet to put in place a plan to minimize their financial exposure and keep the truth from the workers and the American public.

Johns Manville gets together with its neighbor the Raybestos Manhattan Asbestos company in nearby Passaic, New Jersey. Together they agree upon a code of silence. The plan is memorialized in a letter from the President of Raybestos Manhattan to the attorney for Johns Manville, Vandiver Brown, stating:

I think the less said about Asbestos the better off we are.

The participants then prevail upon the Asbestos industry trade journal, Asbestos, to publish nothing about workers getting sick from Asbestos. This strategy of silence is once again acknowledged in a letter to the President of Raybestos Manhattan:

You may recall that we have written you on several occasions concerning the publishing of information, or discussion of, Asbestosis . . .

Also, you have requested that for certain obvious reasons we publish nothing, and, naturally your wishes have been respected.
In June of 1933, the Board of Directors of the Johns Manville Corporation meet in the Manville board room on Madison Avenue in New York City to discuss settling the eleven lawsuits filed by Greenstone on behalf of workers with Asbestosis in the New Jersey Federal Court.

They ultimately decide to settle the cases. The condition for settlement, however, is that the settlement remains secret and that the plaintiff's attorney promises to go away quietly and institute no further litigation against Johns Manville. This secret deal is reflected in the private minutes of the Board meeting:

For general counsel, . had recommended that we settle for approximately $30,000 provided written assurances were obtained from the attorney for the various plaintiffs that he would not directly or indirectly participate in the bringing of new actions against the corporation.

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