No fee unless we recover compensation for your family Text size 833-4-ASBESTOS (833-427-2378) Free Case Review

United States Gypsum Company

United States Gypsum, the Chicago maker of Sheetrock and Red Top plaster, used asbestos in joint compounds, acoustical and finish plasters, spray textures and fireproofing, and from the mid-1930s made asbestos pipe covering, insulating cement and roofing at Jersey City. Its parent, USG Corporation, filed for bankruptcy in 2001 because of asbestos claims; the company kept operating, and the United States Gypsum Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust has paid claims since 2006.

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

You don't need the product names or old records. No fee unless we recover compensation for your family.

Call 833-4-ASBESTOS Request a review

History

United States Gypsum was formed in 1901 from a merger of gypsum companies. Its business was gypsum plaster, wallboard and other building materials, made at dozens of plants across the country.4

In its review of 1935, Asbestos magazine listed the purchase by U.S. Gypsum of the National Asbestos Manufacturing Company of Jersey City, and its March 1936 issue carried the news under the heading "U. S. Gypsum Acquires National Asbestos Mfg. Co."56 The company's later sworn answers say it made pipe coverings there from 1936 to 1938, asbestos cement from 1936 to 1939 and roofing from 1937 to 1946.3 They give "low profitability" as the reason the pipe covering and asbestos cement were dropped.7 For a few years in the 1940s it also made K-Fac rigid insulating block; in a report to the EPA the company said K-Fac was produced from 1943 to 1950 at East Chicago, Indiana.8

Asbestos reported that William L. Keady joined U.S. Gypsum in 1924, became production manager in 1928, vice president in 1932 and president in 1942, and resigned in 1949.910

Asbestos products

The library's fullest record of U.S. Gypsum's products is the company's own sworn answers in asbestos lawsuits in 1986 and 1988.211 A chart attached to the 1986 answers lists acoustical plasters such as Sabinite and Audicote, finish and basecoat plasters, Oriental stucco, and SprayDon and Firecode fireproofing, with approximate first and last years and the plants that made them.2 The 1988 answers add the percentage of asbestos by volume in several product groups and the reasons and dates each was discontinued.11

  • Joint compounds are listed as made from "1920s?" to 1976 at plants including Dallas, Chamblee, Georgia, New Brighton, New York, Jacksonville and Midway, Illinois. The reason given for ending them is the "cost of compliance with proposed lower OSHA standards within the plant."12
  • Sabinite acoustical plaster is listed as made from 1930, at New Brighton until about 1964.13
  • SprayDon Standard A fireproofing is listed as first produced in 1966; the answers give 1972 as the last year for fireproofing and say it was stopped "at the direction of Sprayon Research Corporation."14

What the documents show

The Saranac experiments. In February 1937 Johns-Manville's general attorney, Vandiver Brown, wrote that U.S. Gypsum was interested in joining the industry's funding of Dr. Leroy U. Gardner's asbestos dust experiments at Saranac "to a limited extent."15 Later that month he confirmed that U.S. Gypsum's share was limited to $250 a year for three years, and that it would receive the same information about the results as the other sponsors.16 In October 1948 Brown sent the sponsors, U.S. Gypsum among them, a draft Saranac report titled "Asbestos Pneumoconiosis," asking that it be treated "with the utmost confidence."17

Jersey City, 1938. A U.S. Gypsum letter to its Chicago lawyers, received August 18, 1938, enclosed Dr. Gardner's report of a dust survey at Jersey City and a report on X-rays of about 200 men at the plant.18 The letter says: "It appears that we have a very hazardous dust condition at Jersey City, and also have a problem with a number of men who now have asbestosis and tuberculosis."18 It says the company was taking steps to provide dust-collecting and ventilating equipment and in the meantime would provide respirators, and it asked the lawyers whether any awards would fall on U.S. Gypsum or partly on the plant's former owners.18

Joint compound, 1966–1976. In a January 1966 letter to a customer, E. Maynard of U.S. Gypsum wrote that its Perf-a-Tape joint compounds contained mica and asbestos, "both of which can be hazardous if inhaled over a long period of time," recommended a simple dust respirator and goggles during mixing, and said that years of experience had shown that "with only simple precautions the compounds do not present any demonstrated health hazard."19 In June 1970 an internal memo headed "Asbestosis Hazard" suggested that the company start a concrete program to reduce exposure to the asbestos in its formulations.20 An August 1971 internal memo replied to a suggestion to reduce airborne fiber; it said the company considered it unwise to label its current compounds in a way that implied a hazardous substance, and described research on asbestos-free formulas.21 An October 1972 memo on that research asked managers not to use the words "asbestos free" outside the distribution list.22

U.S. Gypsum bought Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos for joint compounds and textures. Union Carbide's call reports from 1971 to 1975 record U.S. Gypsum's concern about asbestos toxicology, fiber counts and dust control, and local bans.23 A 1976 Union Carbide letter reported U.S. Gypsum's plan to remove asbestos from its tape joint compounds by July 1, 1976.24

Warnings and knowledge. In its 1986 answers U.S. Gypsum said it had been aware "since the mid-1930's" that inhaling large quantities of asbestos fibers for long periods could produce asbestosis, and dated its warnings: SprayDon bags marked "Contains Asbestos" from about June 1966, cautions in 1968–69, joint compound in 1972 and textures in 1973.2 In 1988 it added that documents produced by others suggested it may have received a draft animal-inhalation report about October 1948.11

Bankruptcy and trust

Our trust page says USG Corporation, U.S. Gypsum's parent, filed for Chapter 11 in June 2001 because of asbestos lawsuits, while the business itself was otherwise sound.1 The plan of reorganization was confirmed in 2006, and the United States Gypsum Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust was set up that year with about $3.95 billion.1 The company kept operating and, the page says, is now part of the Knauf group.1

References

  1. United States Gypsum asbestos trust page
  2. United States Gypsum's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories in Dikun v. Armstrong World Industries (1986)
  3. United States Gypsum Company plant at Jersey City, New Jersey
  4. United States Gypsum Company company page, plants
  5. Asbestos, December 1935, p. 6 (in "What Asbestos Magazine Told the Industry About Dust and Disease")
  6. Asbestos, March 1936, p. 3 (contents)
  7. Pipecoverings (U.S. Gypsum); Asbestos Cement (U.S. Gypsum)
  8. K-Fac (U.S. Gypsum)
  9. Asbestos, May 1960, p. 18
  10. Asbestos, September 1952, p. 44
  11. United States Gypsum's Answers to Plaintiffs' Master Interrogatories in the Northern District of Oklahoma (1988)
  12. Joint compound (U.S. Gypsum)
  13. Sabinite (U.S. Gypsum)
  14. SprayDon Standard A (U.S. Gypsum)
  15. Vandiver Brown to M. F. Judd on U.S. Gypsum's Interest in the Saranac Experiments (1937)
  16. Vandiver Brown to J. S. Offutt of U.S. Gypsum on Its $250 Share of the Saranac Experiments (1937)
  17. Vandiver Brown to the Saranac Sponsors Calling a Meeting on the Asbestos Dust Report (1948)
  18. UC-5462: United States Gypsum Company to Scott, MacLeish & Falk on Jersey City Dust Survey and Asbestosis Among Workers (1938)
  19. UC-5452: E. Maynard (United States Gypsum Co.) to Campbell Soup Co. on Hazards of Perf-a-Tape Joint Compounds (1966)
  20. UC-5453: L. A. Tobey to P. Kipp on Asbestosis Hazard (1970)
  21. UC-5466: R. P. Ents to C. P. Kipp on Joint Compounds and Asbestos Fiber (1971)
  22. UC-5454: C. M. Howard, Jr. on Status of Asbestos-Free Joint Compound at United States Gypsum (1972)
  23. UC-541: Union Carbide Calidria Reports of Call on U.S. Gypsum Co. (1971–1975)
  24. UC-543: A. J. Lyon to M. O. Robinson on U.S. Gypsum's Move to Asbestos-Free Tape Joint Compounds (1976)

Asbestos trust

If you or a family member worked with or around United States Gypsum Company's asbestos products and later developed mesothelioma or another asbestos disease, a claim may be paid by the United States Gypsum Asbestos PI Settlement Trust. Free case review.

Asbestos products

76 products our documents name United States Gypsum Company as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

Pipe covering and block insulation (8)

Insulating cement and coatings (3)

Asbestos-cement pipe, board and sheet (9)

Paper, felt and millboard (1)

Cloth, tape and other textiles (1)

Joint compound and texture coatings (14)

Refractories (1)

Other products (43)

Plants

Plants where asbestos products were made that the documents say United States Gypsum Company ran.

Court cases

38 court decisions in our case-law library name United States Gypsum Company as a defendant, newest first.

In our library

21 documents in our library name United States Gypsum Company, by collection.

Other library documents (21)

In the Union Carbide documents

United States Gypsum Company is named in 84 Union Carbide documents dated 1938 to 2003 (6 as the source, 84 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. 83 of them are published in our collection.

Names in the documents

The spellings documents use for United States Gypsum Company, OCR misreadings included, so a search for any of them finds this page: U.S. Gypsum · U. S. Gypsum · U.S. Gypsum Company · United States Gypsum Co · United States Gypsum · USG · U. S. Gypsum Company · US Gypsum · U.S. Gypsum Co · U.S. Gypsum Co. · United States Gypsum Co. · U.S.G · United States Gypsum ("USG") · United States Gypsum Company (responding party), through Haight, Brown & Bonesteel, L.L.P · United States Gypsum Company, Chicago · U.S. Gypsum Corporation.

Where this comes from

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

Mentioned on this site

Cite this page

“United States Gypsum Company.” AsbestosClaims.Law Library. https://asbestosclaims.law/library/organizations/united-states-gypsum-company.

ACL Doc numbers and their short links never change. See how to cite the Library.

Talk with an asbestos lawyer

Start with what you remember, and we'll take it from there.

Call 833-4-ASBESTOS Request a free case review

This page is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Every asbestos case turns on its own facts, exposure history, diagnosis, deadlines, available evidence, and applicable law. Reviewing this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, call 833-4-ASBESTOS for a free case review.