G. S. Fabel of Southern Asbestos to Sumner Simpson Asking to Interview Charleston Employees (1936)

A one-page letter of December 9, 1936, from G. S. Fabel, president of Southern Asbestos Company of Charlotte, North Carolina, to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan. Fabel wrote that a number of claims against his company, defended by Southern Asbestos and several insurance companies, had been postponed by the Industrial Commission until January 5, 1937. Their attorneys wanted to go to Raybestos-Manhattan's Charleston plant to interview "reliable employees" who worked in the card room.

What it shows

Fabel explained why: "There has been testimony submitted by employees that the dust removing equipment in your plant at Charleston, prior to 1934, had advantages over the one we have at Charlotte." The letter shows the asbestos textile companies' claims cases turning on how well each plant controlled its dust. Simpson's answers are his reply to Fabel and his instructions to E. H. Jeffords, both of December 11.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

Requests permission for attorneys to interview employees from the Charleston plant. Southern Asbestos Co. and its insurers are concerned about claims made that prior to 1934 equipment in RM's Charleston plant was superior to that in Southern Asbestos' Charlotte plant. Southern Asbestos has asbestos cases due for trial during 1/37.

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to G. S. Fabel of Southern Asbestos on Interviewing Charleston Employees (1936)
• Sumner Simpson to E. H. Jeffords on Helping Southern Asbestos Without Testifying (1936)
• George S. Fabel of Southern Asbestos to Sumner Simpson Sending Dr. Shull's Asbestosis Article (1936)

About this copy

This is document 03078 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.