Memo to File on Harter v. Johns-Manville and a Visit to the Lompoc Plant (1979)

An unsigned six-page memo to file in Harter v. Johns-Manville on a November 16, 1979 visit to J-M's Lompoc, California plant, made to answer a request for documents dated October 4, 1979 from Kazan, the plaintiff's lawyers. The author, working on J-M's response, traces where Lompoc's raw asbestos came from between 1951 and 1977: J-M's own Canadian mines and its Coalinga, California mine, then Cassiar Asbestos Corp. from 1958 to 1976, with smaller amounts from Atlas and Metate. He also reports what records survived and how long the plant kept them.

What it shows

The author found that from at least August 1972 J-M's purchase orders required each bag from Cassiar to carry the label "Contains Asbestos Fibers: Avoid Creating Dust: Breathing Asbestos Dust May Cause Serious Bodily Harm," the only packaging warning he knew of. A 1975 sales agreement made J-M indemnify Cassiar against claims for "personal injuries, diseases, or death, however arising." Finally, he reports "two potential smoking guns" about Lompoc's plans for asbestos products: a May 15, 1975 request for a new mixer that forecast over 4000 tons of asbestos-containing Fibra Flo for 1979, and a five-year forecast of asbestos fiber purchases through 1980. Both, he notes, were "not within the call of Kazan's production," and how much they mattered depended on what J-M witnesses had said about phasing out asbestos products at Lompoc.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

A Memorandum (unknown author) to "File" Re: Hartman v. Johns-Manville; Visit to Lompoc Plant November 16, 1979, Respecting Kazan's Request for Production of Documents and Things dated: October 4, 1979. On page 5 of the document the author states that his review of the limited documentation still available at Lompoc uncovered two potential smoking guns. He states, "the amount of smoke generated depends on previous testimony of J-M representatives respecting the phasing out of asbestos containing products at Lompoc."

Both these documents which fortunately were not within the call of Kazan's production, are internal J-M communications. The first, dated 5/15/75, is a two-page requisition or appropriation for an additional mixer in the mortar plant. This document contains sales forecast in tons for asbestos containing Fibra Flo through 1979. This request, calling for over 4,000 tons of such products for 1979, was approved by C. A. Carlson, then plant manager. Additionally, the author discusses an interoffice memorandum respecting asbestos fiber requirements, indicating that the five-year forecast for outside purchases of asbestos fiber at Lompoc was 400 tons of Cassiar and 100 tons of AZ-20 for each year through 1980.