John C. Settle of Travelers to Richard R. Standel, Jr. on Settling the Frances T. Rogers Claim (1970)

A one-page letter of October 8, 1970, from John C. Settle, an examiner in the Casualty Property Claim Department of the Travelers Insurance Company, to Richard R. Standel, Jr., J-M's associate general counsel, on a claim against J-M by Frances T. Rogers. Settle notes Standel's plans to discuss a possible compromise and says that, since Missouri had adopted strict liability, settling "may well be prudent," but he is concerned about "the timing and the consequences of any substantial compromise at this point in time," remembering "our experience following the Tomplait settlement."

What it shows

Settle expects the settlement to be handled "to keep the publicity as low key as possible," and adds: "Despite all this, I think we can anticipate that the news will leak out and may well precipitate the activation of many dormant claims that we know are in the bushes." J-M's insurer was aware of claims not yet filed and saw publicity as what might bring them forward. The Tomplait case is discussed in Standel's 1968 memo on common law asbestosis claims.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

John C. Settle, Travelers Claim Department, writes J-M attorney Richard Standel of need to keep settlement "publicity as low key as possible. Despite all this, I think we can anticipate that the news [of settlement] will leak out and may well precipitate the activation of many dormant claims that we know are in the bushes."