Manville's Appeal Brief in Johns-Manville v. United States on Navy Asbestos Specifications, Excerpt (1988)

Ten printed pages (13-22) from a brief for Manville in its suit against the United States over shipyard workers' asbestos claims, written after the U.S. Claims Court's decision (cited as "13 Cl. Ct."). Under the heading "The Government Decided The Terms Of Its Asbestos Material Specifications Based On Its Own Needs, Experience And Expertise," it argues from trial testimony and exhibits that during the 1930s and World War II the Navy wrote "mandatory design specifications" that required its pipe coverings, blocks, cements, felts and lagging cloths to contain asbestos, and that "virtually every Navy ship built and repaired during World War II" used asbestos materials. The excerpt ends as a new section begins: "The Government Knew Of The Actual Asbestos Hazard Conditions In The Wartime Shipyards But Did Not Disclose This Information To Manville."

What it shows

The brief quotes Manville's thermal insulation expert Donald Wingerter that "the Navy specifications were such that [a manufacturer] had no alternative because of the narrow [properties] that we were given, but to use asbestos," and says the Navy's 1922 Medical Bulletin listed "Asbestos Workers" among hazardous occupations and named wet handling, exhaust systems and respirators as preventive measures. It is Manville's argument, not a court finding; the Claims Court had ruled against the company. For an earlier stage of the same litigation, see Deposition of Percy J. Gartly in Johns-Manville v. United States, Excerpts (1984).