Coleman v. Johns-Manville, Pleadings and Removal Papers (1934)

A 41-page set of court papers in Jack Coleman's suit against Johns-Manville Corporation, filed in the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois, on July 16, 1934, and removed to the federal court in Chicago in August 1934. Coleman, a laborer at J-M's Waukegan plant, said trucks were loaded with asbestos cement and bags of it weighed in dust "greatly deleterious to the health of human beings," and asked for $50,000. The set includes the complaint, J-M's answer denying every charge, the removal petition, bond and order, and J-M's motion to dismiss. Royal Indemnity Company was surety on the removal bond, which Vandiver Brown signed for J-M as assistant secretary.

What it shows

J-M's lawyers, Heth & Lister, denied that any dust arose from the work or that Coleman had contracted pneumoconiosis. In a memorandum on its motion to dismiss, J-M pointed to a recent Illinois Supreme Court decision, Burns v. Industrial Commission, on the state's Occupational Diseases Act. A May 1936 court slip records J-M's request to withdraw its answer and file a motion to dismiss. Other 1934 Waukegan suits are gathered on the page Waukegan Workers' Suits Against Johns-Manville in Illinois (1934).

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Various pleadings filed in Jack Coleman v. J-M Corp. Complaint was filed in July 1934 in the Superior Court, Cook County, Illinois. Case was removed to the U.S.D.C., Illinois. Coleman was a laborer at J-M's Waukegan plant for an unknown period of time. Royal Indemnity was the surety on the removal bond.

Related documents

• Waukegan Workers' Suits Against Johns-Manville in Illinois (1934)

About this copy

This is document 882 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-004629 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-004669.