C. L. Sheckler to J. D. Anderson on Mass Workmen's Compensation Filings at Manville (1969)

A one-page confidential memo of July 25, 1969, from C. L. Sheckler at Johns-Manville's headquarters to J. D. Anderson at the Manville, New Jersey, plant, copied to H. M. Jackson and others. "The mass filing of Workmen's Compensation claims at Manville is a problem of major importance," Sheckler wrote, and it was "essential that we explore these areas and determine a plan of action that will retard the number of claims filed." He asked Anderson to set up a meeting with Lou Hemerda and Tom Bodnarchuk, with an agenda covering the cases in litigation, traumatic and occupational disease cases, claim handling and case assignments to the company's attorneys.

What it shows

By mid-1969 workers at J-M's largest plant were filing compensation claims in numbers the company treated as a major problem, and the response proposed here was a plan to slow the filings. The same months brought surveys showing many Manville work stations above the dust limit (Swallow's May 1969 report) and Jackson's finding that past exposure had caused "a substantial frequency of disease" (Jackson to Burnett, October 1969).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Sheckler memorandum to J.D. Anderson (Manville) dated 7/25/69, states that the mass filing of workers' compensation claims at Manville is a problem of major importance. Sheckler states that it is essential that the many factors influencing the mass claims filing be explored and that a plan of action be formulated that will retard the number of claims filed. Sheckler suggests that the agenda for a first meeting to discuss this problem include a review of the number of cases in litigation, types of cases in general categories (such as traumatic and occupational disease), claims handling procedures, and case assignments of J-M attorneys.