Vandiver Brown to S. A. Williams on the New Illinois Dust Disease Law (1936)

A two-page memorandum of July 15, 1936, from Vandiver Brown of Johns-Manville's Legal Department to S. A. Williams, a J-M vice-president, on Illinois's new dust disease law. Illinois Supreme Court decisions had held that workers could not sue their employers in court for dust disease, and the new Occupational Diseases Act, effective October 1, 1936, gave no claim for asbestosis or silicosis unless the worker had been exposed "during a period of sixty (60) days or more after the effective date." Brown concluded that employees who already had pneumoconiosis "may be entirely without remedy," and that Illinois employers could "start out on October 1, 1936 with an entirely clean slate."

What it shows

Brown advised that J-M could minimize this liability "for years to come" in two ways: by removing from the payroll, by November 29, 1936, all employees who had early-stage pneumoconiosis or "a record of exposure which might be calculated to produce the incipient stages," and by eliminating dust wherever it was created in hazardous amounts. He called it "A rare opportunity for a thorough clean-up," adding that the decision would have to weigh "the social as well as to the purely dollars and cents aspects." The memo shows J-M's lawyer treating dust disease among current workers as known and widespread enough to plan for. He followed it with a memo on a waiver in August and two more memos in October.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Brown writes to S.A. Williams, 7/15/36, that the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that employees have no common law right to sue employers for occupational dust diseases. (Because of this ruling, 53 cases against J-M have been withdrawn.) He further states that the new Occupational Disease Act becomes effective on 10/1/36. "It is possible that employees who have contracted pneumoconiosis before this may be without a remedy." There is a good chance that, as of 10/1/36, employers can start out with a clean slate. Brown suggests ways to eliminate potential liability: (1) fire employees with incipient but non-disabling pneumoconiosis, (2) control the dust.

Editor's note: J-M's description says 53 cases against J-M were withdrawn because of the court's ruling. Brown's memo does not mention that figure.

Related documents

• Vandiver Brown to E. M. Voorhees on the Failure of Illinois Occupational Disease Legislation (1935)