Asbestos Information Association Board of Directors Minutes on the State of the Art Defense (1977)

Nine pages: a covering memo of December 21, 1977, and the minutes of the Board of Directors of the Asbestos Information Association/North America, the U.S. and Canadian industry's trade group, meeting in Arlington, Virginia, on December 14, 1977, signed by its executive director, R. H. Mereness. Directors included Dimitry Poutiatine of Johns-Manville and John H. Marsh of Raybestos-Manhattan. Wendell B. Alcorn of the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, the Association's special counsel, described the "medical State of the Art document" being prepared for defense lawyers: a memorandum of law on strict liability, three books of articles collected by Dr. Philip Enterline, transcripts of the testimony of defense experts Drs. McIver and Kotin, and a digest of state of the art cases. He then set out "seven points to the State of the Art Defense."

What it shows

Alcorn's seven points ran from miners' concern when textile workers developed asbestosis, through lowered dust levels and the debate over asbestosis and lung cancer, to Dr. Selikoff's October 1964 statements at the New York Academy of Sciences that "not only textile workers but insulation workers contract asbestos related disease" and that "there is a causation between asbestos and lung cancer." The last point was that "major companies supplying insulation materials started placing warning labels on products in 1965-66." The board agreed to sell the state of the art presentation to non-members for $2,000. The minutes also report the Consumer Product Safety Commission's ban on asbestos patching compounds, a study of a captive insurance company, and Marsh's report on the international association.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's legal department indexed the Motley 1,000 in 1984. Its index describes this document as follows:

AIA Meeting Minutes, 12/14/77 - Board of Directors. R.H. Mereness reports on the ban on asbestos-containing patching compounds, which a consumer might purchase. Wendel W. Alcorn (Special Counsel - Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft) reports on the progress of the Legal-Medical Research Program. Alcorn outlines the content and status of the medical state of the art document. The document is to contain four parts: 1) Draft memorandum of law. This memo would briefly discuss the question of strict liability and claims thereto. 2) Enterline materials. "This will include three books with the purpose to give counsel a library of various asbestos articles over the years." 3) Copy of transcript testimony of defense expert witnesses - Drs. McIver and Kotin. 4) Digest of State of the Art with citations to other cases. Alcorn then outlines the seven main points of the state of the art defense.

About this copy

This is document 723 of the Motley 1,000, from the set the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust's records facility certified as true copies, pages CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-002937 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-002945.