Rinaldo v. Johns-Manville, Court Papers (1929)

Court papers (42 pages) in the death suit Susie Rinaldo brought against Johns-Manville Corporation for her husband Nicholas, who worked at J-M's Manville, New Jersey, plant until 1928 and died on January 14, 1929. The complaint, begun with a summons of October 22, 1929, said he breathed asbestos "fibers and particles" that infected his "bronchial tubes, lungs and body." J-M removed the case to federal court, with New York Indemnity Company as surety, and then moved to dismiss it, filing a statement taken from Mrs. Rinaldo on November 29, 1929, in the office of Archibald Hughes, the plant's general manager. On April 14, 1930, after her lawyer said he did not wish to go on against his client's wishes, the court discontinued the case.

What it shows

In the statement, given in Italian through an interpreter, Mrs. Rinaldo said her husband had worked ten years for J-M and that she had told the lawyer "He died from the dust of the factory," which had "poisoned the pimple" he died from, but that she never said he had lung trouble. The affidavits of the J-M lawyer, a plant stenographer and the interpreter describe how the statement was taken and checked. J-M used the same method in the Lasin case and the Benjamin Perone case.

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 Susie Rinaldo v. J-M Corp. (Deceased: Nicholas Rinaldo). Complaint was filed on 10/28/29 in the Supreme Court of Somerset County, New Jersey. Case was removed to the U.S.D.C., New Jersey. Rinaldo was a textile worker at J-M's Manville plant for approximately 3 years. New York Indemnity was the surety on the removal bond.

Related documents

• Lasin v. Johns-Manville, Court Papers (1929)
• Benjamin Perone v. Johns-Manville, Court Papers (1929)
• The Lacho and Smutko Suits Against Johns-Manville, with C. W. Hite's Memo on Smutko (1939)

About this copy

This is document 756 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-004085 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-004126.