J. P. Woodard to E. F. Day on the Bertogliat Death Claim (1948)

A one-page "personal and confidential" memo of January 30, 1948, from J. P. Woodard at Johns-Manville's headquarters to E. F. Day at the Waukegan, Illinois, plant, copied to Vandiver Brown, W. S. Burkett and H. M. Jackson. Travelers Insurance had decided to pay the widow of Dominic Bertogliat "the death claim insurance of $5,000," which Woodard credited to J-M's insurance department. A lawyer for the widow had also written, and Woodard thought it would be "unfortunate if the widow should get the erroneous impression that the death claim is being honored because she hired a lawyer."

What it shows

Woodard suggested that Day visit Mrs. Bertogliat to show the company's interest and to get "a better 'feel' of what her attitude is," and to let her see how thoroughly J-M was "going into the case in an attempt to establish the facts surrounding Dom's sickness and death." Because the case "might become a legal situation," he asked that all reports and letters be sent to headquarters for J-M's legal staff. Six months later J-M asked Saranac to delay reporting its findings on Bertogliat's tissue to the outside doctor (Jackson and Vorwald, July 1948).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

In a memo dated 1/30/1948, from J.P. Woodard to F.E. Day, with a copy to Jackson, Vandiver Brown, and W.S. Burkett, confirms that Travelers Insurance paid $5,000 to widow of Dominic Bertogliat, Waukegan plant worker

Editor's note: J-M's description names the recipient F. E. Day. The memo is addressed to E. F. Day.