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Sumner Simpson Papers & Raybestos-Manhatten

In order to escape or minimize liability, Defendants often claim that they did not know about the hazards of asbestos exposure. This was especially true when asbestos litigation was becoming more prevalent in the 1970's.  But the truth is that many corporations, especially the larger ones, knew about the link between asbestos exposure and health problems back in the 1930's. 

 

There is a collection of documents, now called the Sumner Simpson Papers, which date back to the 1930's and 1940's that are proof of the asbestos industry's efforts to cover-up the known hazards of asbestos exposure.  The Sumner Simpson Papers were discovered during an asbestos-related lawsuit filed in New Jersey in the offices of Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc.    

 

Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc. was a manufacturer of automotive parts including brakes, clutches and other friction-based products.  As the Sumner Simpson Papers show, several asbestos corporations funded research through Saranac Laboratory for Research on Tuberculosis in 1936. 

 

The studies Saranac Laboratory conducted showed a link between asbestos exposure and cancer.  But at a meeting in 1947 between these asbestos companies that funded the research, it was decided that "there would be no publication of the research of experiments without consent," and that published material "would not include any objectionable material."  The asbestos companies specifically referred to "any relation between asbestos and cancer" as an example of objectionable material that should not be included.  Because of this agreement, the published results of these studies did not mention the connection between asbestos exposure and cancer.

 

In the 1930's and 1940's, Sumner Simpson was the president of Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc.  The Sumner Simpson Papers also included correspondence between Mr. Simpson and the heads of other asbestos corporations that illustrate an intention to cover up evidence regarding the health hazards of exposure to asbestos and asbestos-containing products.  In 1935, Mr. Simpson wrote to Vandiver Brown, an attorney for Johns-Manville Corporation, stating that "the less said about asbestos, the better off we are."  

 

After becoming a corporate officer of Johns-Manville Corporation, Vandiver Brown wrote to Mr. Simpson, "I felt there was considerable likelihood that a number of subscribers would dislike an article on this subject in the trade magazine of the asbestos industry.  I had in mind the ostrich-like attitude which has been evidenced from time to time by members of the industry." 

 

The asbestos industries continued attempts to cover up the true hazards of asbestos exposure and conscious disregard for the persons exposed to asbestos is most often summed up in a September 12, 1966 document by E.A. Martin, Director of Purchases for Bendix Corporation who wrote, "My answer to the problem is:  if you have enjoyed a good life while working with asbestos products why not die from it. There’s got to be some cause.”   Exposure to asbestos causes a fatal disease called mesothelioma, a type of cancer that has no known cure and very short survival times after diagnosis.

 

While these companies knew of the hazards of asbestos, they did nothing about it, and in fact took affirmative steps to hide the truth from the public.  But the consequences of exposure to asbestos and asbestos-containing products are now known.  If you or a loved one has been exposed to asbestos or asbestos-containing products and has been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, please contact Clapper, Patti, Schweizer & Mason for a free case evaluation.