Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

Advocate Mines, LTD., is currently a dissolved corporation that mined, processed and sold asbestos from 1955 to 1981.  Asbestos was well known for being heat and fire resistant and added to many industrial and construction products until it became highly regulated after being linked with serious illnesses, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.

Advocate began open-pit mining, processing and selling asbestos fiber in 1955 when an asbestos deposit was discovered in Baie Verte, Newfoundland, Canada.  One of Advocate’s primary purchasers of asbestos fibers was  Johns-Manville (“JM”). In California, one of the final destinations for Advocate’s asbestos fiber was the JM plant in Stockton, California.

At this plant, JM manufactured their trademarked “transite” pipe. JM would utilize what they called “blends” or “batches” of asbestos fibers in the manufacture of the transite pipe. These “blends” or “batches” would include asbestos fibers from various different suppliers. However, between 1963 and 1973 every “blend” or “batch” formulated by JM at this Stockton, California facility included Advocate asbestos fibers shipped from Baie Verte. It has been shown that each “blend” or “batch” during this time frame at the Stockton plant included approximately 30%-40% Advocate asbestos fibers per “blend” or “batch.”

The transite pipe from the JM Stockton plant was in pervasive use throughout northern California in both commercial and industrial settings. Workers who installed this pipe often used saws to cut or bevel the pipe. This activity generated large amounts of dust, exposing those using the product and their coworkers to dangerous levels of respirable asbestos fibers.

It was not uncommon that large amounts of dust from these asbestos containing pipes would be generated during transportation of the pipe as the pipes rubbed against each other during transit, and, consequently, exposing those delivering and unloading the pipe as well.  This exposure caused individuals using the product or near those who were using the product to breath harmful amounts of asbestos dust.

When asbestos is inhaled or ingested, it can cause mesothelioma, an incurable cancer of the lining of the lungs, heart or abdomen.  Workers were not given adequate, if any, warnings or protection against such exposure, and many later developed mesothelioma and other asbestos related cancers.