Vandiver Brown Telegram to Lewis H. Brown on the Greenstone Settlement (1933)

A Postal Telegraph telegram sent from Los Angeles on May 10, 1933, by Vandiver Brown (signed "Van") to Lewis H. Brown, president of Johns-Manville, in New York, about the proposed settlement of the New Jersey asbestosis suits brought by the lawyer Samuel Greenstone. Brown was "fearful of proposed settlement because no faith Greenstones integrity," and if the lawyers' advice was followed he wanted an escrow agreement paying fifty percent in fifteen months and fifty percent in thirty months against releases, with J-M able to cancel any payment if new suits were brought. He ended: "Irrespective action taken you insist Williams promptly diplomatically and completely during next six months eliminate remaining suspects and bring other operations especially Waukegan Alexandria Lompoc and Asbestos to Manville efficiency."

What it shows

The telegram ties the settlement of the New Jersey cases to two orders for S. A. Williams, J-M's vice president over the factories: to "eliminate remaining suspects" and to bring the Waukegan, Alexandria, Lompoc and Asbestos operations to "Manville efficiency." It does not say who the "remaining suspects" were. Greenstone's terms appear in his letter of June 26, 1933.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Telegram from Vandiver Brown to Lewis H. Brown dated 5/10/33 regarding settlement of the pending New Jersey civil claims: "Respect action taken you insist Williams promptly diplomatically and completely during next six months eliminate remaining suspects and bring other operations especially Waukegan, Alexandria, Lompoc and Asbestos to Manville efficiency."

Related documents

• Samuel Greenstone to Hobart & Minard on Settling the J-M Asbestosis Cases (1933)
• Anna Pirskowski's Suit Against Johns-Manville, Federal Court File (1929)