Document 6byKw39O9JYGvaBqDGXKvpLXE

FILE NAME: RT Vanderbilt (RTV) DATE: 2000 Mar 2 DOC#: RTV056 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Legal - Deposition of Julius Nemeth file:///J|/Depo Import 2/NEMETH 03-02-00.TXT 1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI 2 AT KANSAS CITY 3 PAUL JAMES MARFICE, ET AL.,) 4 ) Plaintiffs, ) 5 -v- ) ) Case Number 6 ) 99 CV 206658 A .P . GREEN INDUSTRIES, ) Division 14 7 INC., ET A L ., ) ; 8 Defendants. ) 9 DEPOSITION OF JULIUS NEMETH 10 Thursday, March 2, 2000 11 12 Deposition of JULIUS NEMETH, called by the 13 Plaintiffs for examination under the Missouri 14 Rules of Civil Procedure, taken before me, 15 the undersigned, Grace M. Hilpert, Registered 16 Professional Reporter, Notary Public in and 17 for the State of Ohio, at the offices of 18 Calfee, Halter & Griswold, 1400 McDonald 19 Investment Center, 800 Superior Avenue, 20 Cleveland, Ohio 44114, commencing at 9:32 21 a.m., the day and date above set forth. 22 CORSILLO & GRANDILLO 23 COURT REPORTERS 950 Citizens Building 24 Cleveland, Ohio 44114 216-523-1700 25 1 APPEARANCES: 2 On Behalf of the Plaintiffs: 3 Steven E. Crick, Esquire file:///J|/Depo Import 2/NEMETH 03-02-00.TXT (1 of 164) [6/6/2003 12:08:26 PM] file:///J|/Depo Import 2/NEMETH 03-02-00.TXT 23 and add up and then we would know how much 24 was spent on dust suppression equipment, 25 correct? 153 1A If the budget exists. 2 MR. IOLA: I will make those 3 requests for those. 4 MR. BOWERS: Mr. Iola, I will 5 state that we have provided all 6 documentation that we could locate 7 responsive to the requests that have 8 already been served. 9 MR. IOLA: I'm not sure that 10 the requests we previously gave would 11 cover this, but to the extent they 12 don't cover it, I'm asking you to see 13 if you have those materials. 14 MR. BOWERS: We will look to 15 see if we have those materials. 16 Q Now, you talked about -- when you were 17 talking about the supplier of talc certifying 18 that the talc did not contain asbestiform 19 fibers, do you recall that discussion? 20 A Yes. 21 Q Then you turned around and said you 22 switched suppliers regardless of the fact 23 that R.T. Vanderbilt told you that their talc 24 did not contain asbestiform fibers; is that 25 correct? 154 file:///J|/Depo Import 2/NEMETH 03-02-00.TXT (133 of 164) [6/6/2003 12:08:28 PM] file:///J|/Depo Import 2/NEMETH 03-02-00.TXT 1A That's correct. 2Q Why, if they assured you that it didn't 3 contain asbestiform fibers, did you still 4 feel compelled to switch suppliers? 5A Because there was controversy 6 surrounding their talc and that of others. 7Q Can you be more specific as to what you 8 understood to be the controversy regarding 9 R.T. Vanderbilt's talc? 10 A As to whether or not the Tremolite was 11 asbestine or not. 12 Q And were you aware that R.T. Vanderbilt 13 was fighting with the feds over whether or 14 not to classify their product as an 15 asbestos-containing product? 16 A Yes. 17 Q Are you aware that R.T. Vanderbilt 18 spent about $35 million from 1973 to 1980 to 19 fight with the government not to classify 20 their product as an asbestos-containing 21 product? 22 A I was not aware of that. 23 Q Did you ever ask the R.T. Vanderbilt 24 Company to provide you any expert reports of 25 people who helped them make the statement to 155 1 you that it did not contain asbestiform 2 fibers? 3A No. 4Q You were aware that the federal file:///J|/Depo Import 2/NEMETH 03-02-00.TXT (134 of 164) [6/6/2003 12:08:28 PM] file:///J|/Depo Import 2/NEMETH 03-02-00.TXT 5 government felt that their talc was not clean 6 talc and it in fact did contain asbestiform 7 fibers? 8 A That's why we switched, because of the 9 controversy. 10 _____ 11 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 44 12 marked for identification.) 13 _____ 14 Q Now, Mr.Nemeth, I'm going to hand you 15 what's been marked as Plaintiff's Exhibit 44. 16 It appears to be a letter or an intra-company 17 correspondence from you to Clarence Dunbrook 18 of April 26, 1974. Did I accurately describe 19 what that is? 20 A Yes. 21 Q Andthat's a memo from you telling Mr. 22 Dunbrook that you wanted included some 23 cautionary language on products that 24 contained asbestos, correct? 25 A Correct. 1Q A n d t hen the c a u t i o n a r y langu a g e is 2 reflected in this memorandum, correct? 3A Yes. 4Q W h e r e is the w or d " w a r n i n g " ? 5A Not in t h e r e . 6Q W h e r e is the w o r d "d e a t h " ? 7 MR. BOWERS : Object to the form 8 of the question. 156 file:///J|/Depo Import 2/NEMETH 03-02-00.TXT (135 of 164) [6/6/2003 12:08:28 PM]