Document 3e1jNYD4B4KZk5bpoBVDgZp8a

FILE NAME: Asbestos Cement Pipe and Sheet (ACPS) DATE: 2016 Feb 26 DOC#: ACPS133 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Legal - Deposition Summary of James Reichert Summary of Deposition of James Reichert February 26, 2016 Agreement by which JM sells to JMM and JM A/C says that JMM and JM A/C will not be liable for actions instituted against JM by a former employee of seller or any third party against purchaser and/or seller etc, claims are responsibility of the seller. Claims by former employees of seller who are employed by purchaser shall be pro rated depending on relative percentage of total employment with either party. JMM knew from the outset that it could be subject to suits by people claiming injury from asbestos disease. 12/10/82 memo lists 7 pending claims against JM. Liabilities occurring after closing are JMM's JMM knew 21 days before closing of the purchase of the Denison and Stockton plants that there were pending asbestos claims and JMM made the decision to continue the a/c pipe operation rather than just shutting it down and running the PVC operation. 23 Mesothelioma cases occurring in workers at Denison and Stockton. J-MM understood that there was a history of people using power saws in the3 filed to cut A/C/ pipe, (this info after Reichert repeatedly won't answer the question and repeatedly says it was against OSHA rules and JMM policy etc] JMM continued to use the name "Transite" stamping it on their pipe June 6,1983 Memo re training salesmen. The memo tells salesmen to tell customers not to join sections of pipe by "stabbing" one end of the pipe into another "Not recommended." The training guide does not list the installation techniques not permitted by OSHA. Agrees that OSHA permits power saws if techniques are used to reduce exposure to permissible levels plus respirator use. Kin 1983 JMM knew that EPA was proposing a ban on A/C pipe Agrees that from day one, January 1,1983, JMM knew that asbestos could cause mesothelioma. JMM knew from day one that blue asbestos was more toxic than white asbestos. In 1983 JMM knew that Johns Manville filed bankruptcy due to 1000s of lawsuits arising out of asbestos disease claims JMM had health and safety concerns that it had to address for both its own employees and for the product it was selling. Reichert says that JMM put the same amount of effort into caring for their own employees as they did for making sure that they were providing a product they believes was safe and admonishi9ng about safety and health issues for the product (cf the 2014 Reichert depo where he admits that Page 22-23 24 25-26 27-30 32 37-39 71 73 71-74 76 77 78, 79 79 80 80-82 86 87 JMM exhibits a conscious disregard for safety of its employees] January 30,1986, Pronske of JMM re EPA proposed ban. Quotes ACPPA (asbestos cement pipe producers association] statement that no health hazard to those making or installing the pipe. Compare to three years earlier JMM knowledge of 7 mesothelioma cases in employees making AC pipe It was JMM Policy that sales people in the field communicate all admonitions regarding the health and safety issues pertaining to a/c pipe as well as the appropriate work practices. (None of the co-workers or employers of Avila ever saw cautions, warnings, safety brochures or saw any JMM sales person at a Job site or had any info re: asbestos dangers communicated to them(] January 18,1986 memo from the JMM safety guy E.. E. Wang to all plant managers. Says that there is no known exposure level below which carcinogenic effects would not occur. Never any label on the pipe that said there is no known level under which cancer will not occur. Testimony about the claimed caution label being 2" x 2" on a 13' section of pipe. Reichert agrees that the label could have been bigger and could have been more prominent and could have talked about cancer. In the Hill case, in which this Reichert depo is taken, there are 5 witnesses who will testily that there was no caution label. Before 1986 MSDS were provided on request; after 1986 they were supposed to be sent out with the product. JMM then relied on sales people to distribute it. The 1/16/86 MSDS says that the product may cause "pulmonary disease" and it says nothing about cancer; nothing about fatal disease; nothing about no safe level Agrees that even a snap cutter creates dust. The MSDS says don't use power driven saws but it then also says that if you use power driven saws, use exhaust ventilation. Jan 30,1987, MSDS says asbestosis, mesothelioma, pleural plaques and lung cancer. First time the cancer info appears on MSDS even though JMM knew about mesothelioma from "day one." The 1987 MSDS mentions that hand tools (in addition to power tools) which may produce or release asbestos fibers should have exhaust ventilation. Reichert doesn't know what hand tools are being referred to. Although snap cutters are the only hand tool he can think of commonly used to cut a/c pipe Any method of cutting without wetting the pipe down creates dust. Agrees that there is dust in the air even if you can't see it with the naked eye. From the start of running the a/c pipe business JMM knew that it could 89-94 94 96 100 112-115 116-117 115 122 124 124 126 127-130 130 131132, 134 134 139 put them at risk from lawsuits from those claiming injury from asbestos disease. 14 Q . B Y M R . P A N A T IE R : A ll right, sir. I've got a 15 few m ore q uestions fo r y o u . 16 B ased on what w e've talked about today and the 17 d ocu m en ts w e've talked about to d ay, as o f 1983 J - M M 18 understood it w as at risk from law suits w here it w ou ld 19 h ave to p ay p eo p le fo r their injuries or their deaths, 20 correct? 21 M R . S K E B E : A n d I'll object based on form and 22 to the extent it invades any privilege that's the subject 23 o f a m otion in this case. 24 Y o u can answer. 25 T H E W IT N E S S : T h at it cou ld , yes. Page 147 1 Q. B Y M R . P A N A T IE R : O k a y . A n d as o f 1983 J-M M 2 knew that m esotheliom a took m any years to occur, correct? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. O k a y . J- M M as o f 1983 understood that there 5 was a latency period between exposure and w hen the 6 disease actually appeared, right? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. O k a y . A n d as o f 1983 J - M M understood that i f 9 som ebody wanted to file a law suit for paym ent o f 10 m e so th elio m a, the co m p a n y kn ew that that w o u ld o c c u r far 11 into the future, correct? 12 M R . S K E B E : I'll object to form and assert 13 p riv ile g e to the extent that it's been litigated 14 regard in g a p articular issue in this case. 15 Y o u can answer. 16 T H E W IT N E S S : T hat it cou ld , yes. 17 Q . B Y M R . P A N A T IE R : O k a y . A n d I'm not asking you 18 w ith reference to any d o cu m en ts or a n y th in g , ju s t the 19 com pany k n o w led ge. T h e com pan y understood that any 20 law suits from m esotheliom a w ould generally occur w ay into 21 the future, correct? 22 M R . S K E B E : Sam e objection, sam e assertion o f 23 privilege. 24 Y o u can answer. 25 T H E W IT N E S S : That it could, yes. 146-147 REICHERT 1 2 BEFORE THE ASBESTOS MDL PRE-TRIAL JUDGE 3 CAUSE NO: 2014-64317 4 -- oOo -- 5 AMY HILL, Individually and IN THE MULTI-DISTRICT COURT as Personal Representative 6 of the Estate of JACKIE DEE HILL, Deceased and JACKIE 7 DEE HILL, JR., DAVID WAYNE HILL and DAPHNE ANN LEE, 8 Plaintiffs, 9 v. 11th JUDICIAL DISTRICT 10 J-M MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 11 INC. (sued individually and as parent and alter ego to 12 J-M A/C PIPE CORPORATION), et al., 13 Defendants. HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS 14 _________________________ / 15 DEPOSITION OF JAMES REICHERT 16 At Manion Gaynor & Manning 17 201 Spear Street, 18th Floor 18 San Francisco, California 19 Commencing at 10:01 a.m. 20 February 26, 2016 21 22 CERTIFIED 23 TRANSCRIPT 24 Michael E. Hyske, CSR 5244 25 HG Litigation Services HGLitigation.com Page 1