Vernon E. Lumbattis Asbestosis Claim and $30,000 Compromise, California (1966)

Papers from the California workers' compensation claim of Vernon E. Lumbattis, an insulator in California since the early 1940s, against Baldwin, Ehret, Hill, Inc. and other employers (case no. 66 LA 291 957). The compromise and release lists dozens of employers, among them insulation contractors, asbestos suppliers and Johns-Manville Sales Corp., and settles the claim for $30,000 shared among the insurers, with the defendants denying liability. It is followed by a three-page report of July 8, 1966, by Dr. Rutherford T. Johnstone, an occupational medicine specialist, who concluded that Lumbattis had "a pneumoconiosis, probably asbestosis," and that "his disability is total and permanent."

What it shows

The long list of employers shows how an insulator's working life was spread across many contractors and suppliers, which is why claims like this one named J-M alongside dozens of other companies. It is one of several insulators' asbestosis claims of 1966 and 1967 in J-M's files (see also Henry Puetz and Kenneth Frederick).

About this copy

The first page of the compromise and release is left out of the copy here because it gives Vernon Lumbattis's Social Security number and home address. The rest of the agreement and Dr. Johnstone's report are published.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Vernon Lumbattis asbestosis workers' compensation claim filed. Insulation worker employed by various companies including J-M.