Liberty Mutual and Vandiver Brown on J-M's Help in Silva v. Hopeman Brothers (1941)

Papers from September 1941 on Joseph Silva's suit against his former employer, Hopeman Brothers, Inc., claiming he had been disabled by insulation he put up in 1938 and 1939 in the accommodations and refrigerators of ships being built at the Federal Shipyard in Kearny, New Jersey. Hopeman's insurer, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, told Vandiver Brown that Silva had worked with J-M's BX-18 insulation and a National Gypsum product, and asked for J-M men to testify that the many workmen who had handled the product at J-M's plant had never had a problem with it. Brown told E. R. Williams of the Manville Research Laboratories that J-M would cooperate, "not only because Liberty Mutual and Hopeman Brothers are and have been good customers but also because of our natural interest in seeing that there is no Court decision establishing our material as a hazardous product."

What it shows

Brown arranged for L. H. Geisenberger of Manville Research to testify on the material's chemical composition, and for H. J. O'Brien, manager of the factory where it was made, to testify that "none of the workmen engaged in the manufacturing and handling of the material at the factory has ever contracted any occupational disease as a result." Silva alleged no definite disease, only symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and bloody sputum. Brown's memo gives J-M's reason for joining the defense of a customer's case: to prevent a court ruling that its material was hazardous. The trial ended in a hung jury.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Letter from Vandiver Brown to E.R. Williams dated 9/19/41, re Liberty Mutual Life Insurance Company & Hopeman Brothers. Brown states: "Confirming our various telephone conversations, I have discussed this matter with Mr. Hoff and he feels we should cooperate in the defense of the action brought by a former employee of Hopeman Brothers, not only because Liberty Mutual and Hopeman Brothers are and have been good customers but also because of our natural interest in seeing that there is no court decision establishing our material as a hazardous product." This claim was regarding the use of a J-M non-asbestos product.

Editor's note: J-M's description calls the product a non-asbestos one. The papers name it only as J-M's BX-18 insulation and do not say what it was made of.

Related documents

• Liberty Mutual to J-M on the Silva v. Hopeman Brothers Hung Jury (1941)