Samuel Greenstone to Hobart & Minard on Settling the J-M Asbestosis Cases (1933)

A one-page letter of June 26, 1933, from Samuel Greenstone, a Newark lawyer, to Hobart & Minard, Johns-Manville's counsel, headed "Re: Johns-Manville Asbestosis Cases." "As an inducement" to J-M to settle 11 cases pending in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey in which he represented the plaintiffs, Greenstone stated that he represented no one else with a claim against J-M and knew of no other claims, and agreed not to take on any claimant against the company over the same conditions, not to "directly or indirectly, assist any other attorney or person in presenting any such claim or in investigating same, or in starting or trying any such action," and not to disclose the terms until the settlement was "finally consummated on July 31, 1934."

What it shows

The letter shows how J-M settled the 11 asbestosis suits pending against it in New Jersey: with the plaintiffs' lawyer's promise to stay out of any future claims arising from the same conditions. Vandiver Brown had told J-M's president he had "no faith" in Greenstone and wanted payments that could be canceled if new suits were brought (telegram of May 10, 1933), and had wondered whether the Pennsylvania commission's report explained Greenstone's willingness to settle for less.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Greenstone letter to Hobart & Minard, 6/26/33, stating that as an inducement to J-M to settle, Greenstone agrees that he would not assist in the representation of any person claiming damages arising out of conditions at the Manville plant or in "starting or trying any such action" (5200-5071)

Related documents

• Anna Pirskowski's Suit Against Johns-Manville, Federal Court File (1929)
• Vandiver Brown Telegram to Lewis H. Brown on the Greenstone Settlement (1933)