Dana Corporation

Dana Corporation was an Ohio-based maker of vehicle parts whose Victor division made gaskets and seals, and a reference book lists a Dana gasket made with asbestos; until 1969 it also owned an asbestos-paper and fireproofing maker in Linden, New Jersey. Dana filed for Chapter 11 in 2006 in a case all sides agreed was not driven by asbestos, and asbestos suits have since been brought against its successor, Dana Companies, LLC; the library records no asbestos trust for Dana.

Draft. The history on this page was written from the documents in our library and has not yet been reviewed by a person.

Gaskets and the Victor Seal Division

On September 17, 1971, Union Carbide salesman T. P. Norris called on Carl Hayden, research and development manager of the Victor Seal Division of Dana Corp. in Chicago, a maker of gaskets and seals.³ Union Carbide was trying to get Victor to test its Calidria product HPO against the fiber grade 5K that Victor then used to reinforce synthetic gaskets and seals, and Norris noted that Victor bought several carloads of 5K a month.³ He wrote that Hayden pointed out "that their plant was a UAW plant, that they did have a dust problem, but so far the union was not complaining."³

A 1986 reference book lists a Dana gasket, Corbestos, as a "gasket with graphitized asbestos" as of 1977.⁴ Victor gaskets also appear in the case law. In Robaey v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp. (2018), a New York court recounted testimony that the plaintiff's husband used Fel-Pro or Victor (Dana) gaskets on his racing engines and that scraping them off made visible dust; the jury assigned Dana 40 percent of the fault, and Dana settled after the verdict.⁷

The Linden asbestos-paper business

In 1969 Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, reported that the Philip Carey Corporation had bought the Smith & Kanzler Company of Linden, New Jersey, from Dana Corporation.⁵⁸ The journal described the company, which it also called S&K, as a maker of asbestos paper products that also made and sold SprayCraft fireproofing and acoustical products.⁵ Asbestos reported in April 1973 that the Jim Walter Corporation had bought Panacon Corporation, "including Philip Carey and Carey-Canadian Mines Ltd.," and merged it into its Celotex Division in June 1972; Carey's operations then ran under Celotex.⁹ Celotex's own sworn answers in a 1984 lawsuit, however, say of the Linden plant, "Defendant took over in 1969," and describe its work as "asbestos papers and felts."¹⁰

In the courts

Our case-law library holds ten decisions that name Dana Corporation as a defendant.⁶ Dana was one of the twenty companies in the Center for Claims Resolution whose proposed class settlement the Third Circuit, in Georgine v. Amchem Products (1996), and then the U.S. Supreme Court, in Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor (1997), refused to let proceed as a class action.¹¹¹² A Union Carbide trial exhibit from 2001 shows Dana joining Union Carbide, United States Gypsum, Quigley and T&N in a defense motion in a Texas case, and a California filing of the same year lists Dana among the Center for Claims Resolution defendants.¹³¹⁴

In Bednar v. Dana Corp. (2008), the Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed a jury verdict for Dana and ordered a new trial because the plaintiff had been allowed three peremptory challenges instead of four.¹⁵ In McCloskey v. A.O. Smith Water Products (2014), a New York jury allocated 20 percent of the liability to Dana, which was not among the defendants at trial.¹⁶

Bankruptcy and successor

Dana Corporation and forty-one affiliates filed for Chapter 11 on March 3, 2006.² In In re Dana Corp. (2006), the bankruptcy court refused to order a separate official committee of asbestos claimants, noting that all parties agreed the case was "not an asbestos driven proceeding."² Dana Corporation emerged from bankruptcy in 2008, and its operating business continued as Dana Holding Corporation. A 2023 Delaware Court of Chancery opinion says the bankruptcy court confirmed the plan of reorganization of Dana Corp. and its subsidiaries in 2007, and that in 2016 an Enstar Group Limited subsidiary, Enstar Holdings (US) Inc., acquired Dana Corp.'s interest as the sole member of Dana Companies, LLC, which later changed its name to DCo LLC.¹⁷ In 2016 a Rhode Island court dismissed, for lack of personal jurisdiction, a suit against Dana Companies, LLC, which the court said was being sued for the alleged liability of "its predecessor, Dana Corporation."¹

References

1. Murray v. Dana Companies (In re Asbestos Litigation, Rhode Island Superior Court, 2016)
2. In re Dana Corp. (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, S.D.N.Y., 2006)
3. Union Carbide exhibit UC-325: T. P. Norris report of call on Victor Seal Div., Dana Corp., September 17, 1971
4. Corbestos (Dana) product page, citing Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases, vol. 2
5. Asbestos magazine, July 1969, p. 47
6. Dana Corporation company page
7. Robaey v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp. (New York Supreme Court, 2018)
8. Asbestos magazine, December 1969, p. 8
9. Asbestos magazine, April 1973, p. 38: "Notes from Annual Reports, 1972: Jim Walter Corporation"
10. Philip Carey / The Celotex Corporation plant at Linden, New Jersey
11. Georgine v. Amchem Products, Inc. (U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, 1996)
12. Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor (U.S. Supreme Court, 1997)
13. Union Carbide exhibit UC-2004: Defendants' Motion to Bifurcate Punitive Damages, Villarreal v. GAF Corporation Holdings, 2001
14. Union Carbide exhibit UC-5456: United States Gypsum Company's Responses to Standard Interrogatories, Karal v. Atlas Turner, 2001
15. Bednar v. Dana Corp. (Pennsylvania Superior Court, 2008)
16. McCloskey v. AO Smith Water Products (New York Supreme Court, 2014)
17. In re Reinz Wisconsin Gasket, LLC (Delaware Court of Chancery, 2023)

Asbestos products

1 product our documents name Dana Corporation as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

• Corbestos (Dana)

Court cases

10 court decisions in our case-law library name Dana Corporation as a defendant, newest first.

• Robaey v. Air & Liquid Sys. Corp. (2018)
• Murray v. Dana Companies (In re Asbestos Litigation, 2016)
• George v. AW Chesterton Co. (2016)
• McCloskey v. AO Smith Water Prods. (2014)
• Melford v. Abex Corporation (2012)
• Bednar v. Dana Corp. (2008)
• In re Dana Corp. (2006)
• Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor (1997)
• Georgine v. Amchem Products, Inc. (1996)
• Fusaro v. Porter-Hayden Co. (1989)

In the Union Carbide documents

Dana Corporation is named in 6 Union Carbide documents dated 2001 to 2003 (6 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. All are published in our collection.

• Defendants' Exhibit List with General Exhibit List in Villarreal v. GAF Corporation Holdings, Inc., et al., Cameron County, Texas (2001) UC-2009 (mentioned)
• United States Gypsum Company's Responses to Standard Interrogatories in Karal v. Atlas Turner, Inc., with Exhibits 1-9 (2001) UC-5456 (mentioned)
• Defendants' Motion to Bifurcate Punitive Damages in Villarreal v. GAF Corporation Holdings, Inc., et al. (2001) UC-2004 (mentioned)
• Defendants' List of Potential Deposition and Trial Testimony in Villarreal v. GAF Corporation Holdings, Inc., et al. (2001) UC-2007 (mentioned)
• Defendants' Line and Page Designations of Deposition and Trial Testimony, Villarreal v. GAF Corporation Holdings, Inc., et al. (2001) UC-2008 (mentioned)
• Affidavit of Susan W. Gilefsky Attaching U.S. Gypsum and Georgia-Pacific Interrogatory Responses (2003) UC-5449 (mentioned)

Where this comes from

This page brings together every document in our library that names Dana Corporation, across collections. Titles and affiliations are taken from the documents themselves, and units and subsidiaries are grouped under the company they belong to.