Sumner Simpson Papers

The Sumner Simpson Papers are a collection of internal corporate correspondence from the 1930s and 1940s between Sumner Simpson, then-president of Raybestos-Manhattan, and other asbestos industry executives, including Vandiver Brown, attorney for Johns-Manville. The letters show that company leaders knew asbestos caused serious lung disease but chose to suppress that information, including by suggesting that unfavorable research be kept out of trade publications. They were discovered during litigation in the 1970s and became central evidence that the industry concealed health hazards from workers and the public.

Origin

The letters were written primarily between 1935 and 1939 and remained in Raybestos-Manhattan's corporate files for decades. They were uncovered in 1977 by attorney Karl Asch during discovery in an asbestos personal injury case, and their disclosure transformed asbestos litigation by providing direct documentary proof of early industry knowledge.

Significance in Asbestos Context

For patients and families, the Sumner Simpson Letters are some of the most important documents in the entire history of asbestos litigation. They directly rebut the defense that companies "did not know" asbestos was dangerous, showing instead that industry leaders knew by the 1930s and deliberately hid the risks. This evidence supports claims for punitive damages, undermines statute-of-limitations and assumption-of-risk defenses, and helps establish the fraudulent concealment that justifies holding companies accountable decades after the original exposures. Your legal team will likely reference these letters, or the broader pattern they reveal, when arguing that the manufacturers acted with reckless disregard for worker safety.

Example Sentence

During trial, the plaintiff's lawyer introduced the Sumner Simpson Letters to show the jury that asbestos manufacturers had been warned about lung disease decades before her father ever set foot in the shipyard.

Related Terms

Johns-Manville, Raybestos-Manhattan, Punitive Damages, State of the Art Defense, Fraudulent Concealment, Asbestos Industry Cover-Up, Corporate Knowledge, Discovery, Failure to Warn

Notes

• Ask your attorney whether the Sumner Simpson Letters or related industry documents (such as the Asbestos Textile Institute records) are part of the evidence package being prepared for your case.
• If you or a family member worked at Raybestos-Manhattan, Johns-Manville, or any plant supplied by them during the 1930s–1970s, preserve employment records, union cards, pay stubs, and any photographs. These connect your exposure to the companies named in the letters.
• Many of the original letters are publicly available through court archives and academic collections; your legal team can point you to copies if you want to read them yourself.
• These documents most strongly support claims involving exposures before OSHA regulation (1972), but they remain relevant in nearly all asbestos cases as evidence of long-standing industry knowledge.