Vandiver Brown to E. M. Voorhees on the Illinois Dust Situation (1935)

A three-page memorandum of February 28, 1935, from Vandiver Brown of Johns-Manville's legal department to E. M. Voorhees, J-M's vice president, copied to W. R. Seigle and S. A. Williams. Adding to his memo of February 14, Brown passes on at length remarks by O. E. Mount, chairman of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association's Occupational Diseases Committee, on the wave of silicosis and lung disease suits in Illinois. Mount blamed "ambulance chasers" and said employers would "continue to be milked of thousands of unjust dollars, from 33 1/3% to 75% of which go to unethical attorneys and quack doctors, and the remainder probably to the plaintiff employe."

What it shows

Mount's remarks, which Brown adopts by passing them on without comment, describe suits in the thousands seeking millions of dollars, and quote a letter from a worker who had won a silicosis judgment asking his former employer to forgive his "great fault" and take him back. Mount allowed that not all suits were unworthy, but called the situation a "racket" and argued that "the sole and only intelligent solution" was a comprehensive occupational diseases act like the one his committee had drafted (the Illinois draft law). The memo shows the view of dust disease claims that J-M's lawyers and their allies were working from as they pressed for the bill.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

In a memorandum to E.M. Voorhees dated 2/28/35 regarding Illinois legislation, Brown states that until the present chaotic conditions change, employers will continue to be "milked of thousands of unjust dollars, from 33 1/2% to 75% of which goes to unethical attorneys and quack doctors and the remainder probably to the plaintiff employee."
In April, 1935, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Section 1 (applying to dust diseases) of the Occupational Disease Act was vague and therefore unconstitutional.

Editor's note: J-M's description attributes the "milked of thousands of unjust dollars" statement to Brown; in the memo Brown is quoting O. E. Mount, and the figure reads "33 1/3%." The April 1935 Illinois Supreme Court ruling in the second paragraph is not in this memo; it is mentioned in the June 27, 1935, Officers Board minutes.