Maurine Clark v. Baldwin Ehret-Hill and Others, Dean Clark Lung Cancer Death Claim, California (1966–1969)

Papers from the California workers' compensation death claim brought by Maurine Clark, widow of Dean Clark, who worked "as an asbestos worker" in California from 1940 until his death on March 4, 1966 (case no. 66 LA 292 043). A compromise and release signed in May 1969 settled the claim for $5,410.50 shared among 15 insurers of about 30 employers, Johns-Manville Sales Corp. among them (through Travelers Insurance, which paid $621). With it is a two-page report of January 30, 1967, from Dr. John B. Field of Beverly Hills to the widow's lawyer: an autopsy had found lung cancer with "fibrosis of the lungs" associated with asbestos bodies, and Field concluded that Clark's long exposure to asbestos "was a direct and probable cause" of his cancer.

What it shows

Field described the medical literature on asbestos and cancer as "growing rapidly" and the evidence "almost overwhelming in favor of this association," citing Doll, Merewether, Hueper, and the 1965 New York Academy of Sciences conference, including the work of Hammond, Selikoff and Churg on New York insulators. By early 1967 such reports were being put into evidence in insulators' claims naming J-M; compare the Sullivan case in Travelers' letter of December 1966, and the Frederick claim.

About this copy

The copy here is pages 2 to 6 of the compromise and release. Its first page is left out because it shows Dean Clark's Social Security number, and Dr. Field's two-page report of January 30, 1967 (pages 7 and 8), is held back because it sets out his autopsy findings.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dean Clark lung cancer workers' compensation claim filed. Insulation worker employed by various companies including J-M.