Strelec v. Johns-Manville, Wrongful Death Suit for Mike Strelec (1929)

Court papers from Anna Strelec, administratrix of the estate of Mike Strelec, v. Johns-Manville Corporation, begun by a summons of October 1, 1929, in the New Jersey Supreme Court for Somerset County and removed to the U.S. District Court for New Jersey (38 pages). The complaint, by attorney Samuel Greenstone, said Strelec worked at J-M's Manville plant in 1927 "and for several years prior thereto," was never warned of the asbestos dust, and died as a result on January 11, 1928, leaving his widow and eight children; it asked $40,000. The papers include J-M's removal petition and bond (New York Indemnity Company, surety), its answer pleading assumption of risk, contributory negligence and failure to use "the mask and other appliances provided," and an affidavit by Emil Ramer with a handwritten statement he took from the widow at her home on November 8, 1929, with plant manager Archibald Hughes and the Manville community nurse present.

What it shows

In the statement, written out by Ramer in English and read to her in Polish, Mrs. Strelec said her husband had worked for J-M for about eleven years, had been sent to a sanatorium in White Haven, Pennsylvania, and then to Bonnie Burn, where he died, and that the idea he "became sick on account of working in the plant" of Johns-Manville "never entered my mind" until a lawyer came to her house. It is one of several statements J-M gathered in late 1929 from Manville workers and families sued for by the same lawyer (Motley #738, #740, #741, #742). The pages here do not show how the case ended.

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 Anna Strelec v. J-M Corp. (Deceased: Mike Strelec). Complaint was filed on 10/7/29 in the Supreme Court of Somerset County, New Jersey. Case was removed to the U.S.D.C., New Jersey. Strelec was a textile worker at J-M's Manville plant for an unknown period of time. New York Indemnity was the surety on the removal bond.

Related documents

• Helen Zackwiejz v. Johns-Manville, Pleadings and Motion to Quash (1929)
• Bartus v. Johns-Manville, Pleadings and Worker's Statement Withdrawing the Suit (1929)
• John Perone v. Johns-Manville, Pleadings and Sanatorium Interview (1929)
• Graziosi v. Johns-Manville, Wrongful Death Suit for Michael DeMuro (1929)

About this copy

This is document 743 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-003541 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-003578.