Document DbDY6BaJz8JG0qg7qwobKwxo

INTE R OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE Et HYL. Gaso l ine Co r po r at io n At l a nt a Of f ice Rhodes-Ha ver t y buil ding At l a nt a , Geor gia July 1, 1940. DH. HO3T A KHHOEj .ear j-r ~ehoe, Att ached is our latest reoert on developments in the Oran?:e State Oil jOI case. This in- ,elude a report of our Safety Representative ..-r. Sivoene. , and also a cony of an opinion rendered "by Hud so h Cason, Attorneys for the Orange State il Coripany. I esa inclined tc feel that a satisfactory set tlement of this case rests with the Maryland Oas -'.alty Company. However, if there is anythin:': fur ther which you wish us to do, we vri.ll he pleased to he advised. JAO/i CC-Hr Lewis. enclosures Very truly yours, XX-D r. |A. Costello. K 0021070 INTE R- OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE ,!i ! i Et hyl Gaso l ine Co r po r at io n At l ant a Office r hodes-Haver t y Bdil ding Vrr\ '-V h; U- u V -a At l a nt a , Geor gia Miami, Fla June 28, 1940 / /: Mr. J. A. Costello Dear Joe: At your request I have spent quite some time with Mr. Van Brunt and Mafjor Carter of the Orange State Oil Co. here in Miami with the idea of finding out the status of the l e a s e . Mr. Van Brundt told me that so far no one had done anything or} account of the fact that the Maryland Casualty Co., insurers ofl Orange State has denied liability, claiming that the cases of lead poisoning which occured at their Tampa, Fla. terminal last Dec. were cases of occupational deseases and not accidents as classed under the Fla. Workmans Copemsation Act. Maryland Casualty Co. &&s done nothing since up until last week no claim had been filed by any parties representing the deceased. Orange! State has left everything up to Maryland Casualty with the result that over six months have elapsed without anyone taking action. Last week Mr. Fenn, Pres, of Orage State Oil Co. received a letter from the mother of M r . Hubbard(de ce ased white worker of Jacksonville^ Fla.) asking him what he expected to do about the death of her son who died as a re s u l ^ p o i s o n i n g due to working in tank 201 in Tampa. ( Mrs. is aware of the fact that hers: son died of "Tet r a ^ h y l ^ L e a d Poisoning".) This letter has been turned over to the Maryland Casualty Co. and a reply of a very non-commital nat ure made to Mrs. Hubbard. So far no claim has been made by anyone r epresenting the negro who died in Bradenton Fla. Enclosed is no information as to when either of these two men worked as Mr. Va n Brunt had placed all of this matter in the hands of their lawyers He says that he wrote you a letter containing this information Enclose d is a copy of a letter from the Law Firm of Hudson and Cason, attor:neys for Orange State, expressing their opinions on the case. The letter speaks for itself and I will not comment. The Mary land Casualty Co. is now investigating the case of Willie Mitche 11, colored, about whom you have a letter. They have made no rep ort as yet. I asked Mr. Van Brunt why he wrote you that Willie Mitchell worked for them in Tampa from Nov.15th through Nov.17th 1939 and nov. 19th through Nov.26th 1939 and although the cleaning of tank 201 took place in Dec. he stated that he might ha',ve worked in the tank in question. He told me that ^ 002107 i N24474.01 P age-2-1,'7WS to <}AC-- 6 - 28-4o keeping records that will kook very good to the - or it might he a case of Mr. Glover trying to c o n K ^ thing in order to evade the responsibility that might be 'rut r! him by the officials of the Orage State Oil 0o . I can think o f ' n o t - u e that vie can do to get the real truth on this matter without mat in-"*ng the officials cjf the Orage State Oil o. very mad so I did not'press this too far. I ' . They cleaned a 20,000 gal bulk sales storage tank that had been used for leaded gasoline here in Miami about two weeks ago and as you know they did not notify us. I asked Major Carter and Mr. Gfrover in the pjrese nee of Mr. Van Brunt why we had reeeived no notification ar}d they told me that Dr. Kehoe had made the statement to them that sn}all tanks of that type were not hazardous.I then described to them the recent result of Dr. Kehoes study and it was agreed that] they would notify us of all tank cleanings of leaded gasoline-storage tanks in which a man entered. Major Carter has agreed to tjake this responsibily at the direction of Mr. Van Brunat. I spent a long time going over the fact that they would Jiave to notify us if we were to be of any service to them. If you have any further information that you want me to get from them oir anyone else please send me a letter to the Columbus Hotel here in Miami as I expect to return here from Cuba next Wed. Please mark hold for arrival. Ve truly your^, h . vYhitne^/Bweeney Jr> 0021072 LAW OFFICES H U D SO N & CASO N MIAMI, FLORIDA May S, 1940 Orange $tate oil Company Miami, Florida ^ ! subject: Attention Mr. YanBrunt, secretary case i ; Gentlemen: We were (interviewed yesterdays by, M r rai l l e , Local Agent, and Mr. Arthur* Ifr smitbnrAss istant Claims Manager out of the Home.Office of Maryland Casualty Company with reference >to the reported cases of| tetra-ethyl lead, poisoning reported to us in yopr letter of May 6. 'ye discussed every detail of these cases-for\about' two hours, and, while no Idefinite agreement, was reached, we believe the following is an approximate, summary of our tentative views*; '\ we contended.that\under the circumstances surrounding these cases, and especially in view of the/medical conqluslen reached by Br. Robert A. Kehoe, jGrange state^ha--S:hcurred liability by reason\of the injury and death of the employees in question. It is/also our opinion that if Orange B^ate^is^liable* It is fully protected under the terms s-af the^forkaen* s Compensation policy Issued by theTfaryland Casualty Company, and that the c&seQ would come under the Florida Workmen*s Compensation Law. Mr. smith was somewhat inclined to the view to begin with, that the injuries and deaths occurred not by reason of accident but by reason of occupational diseases,! and contended that in such eases neither Orange State nor the insurance company was liable unless, of course, our Supreme Court should hold that occupational diseases come within the classifica tion of abcidents, in which event Mr. smith contended his coropahy would still be relieved by reason of the clause in its policy excepting occupational d i s e a s e s .j K K 0021073 Orange State Oil Company Pag 2 May 8 1, 1940 LAW OFFICES H U D SO N & CA SO N MIAMI, FLORIDA Most definitions of occupational diseases contemplate a disease resulting gradually and over a period of time fro the nature of the occupation followed. For instance, as defined by the Indiana courts, "The natural and reasonably-to-be-expected results of a workman following a certain occupation for a consider able period of time". United Paper Board Company ytlLewis 11? N . E . 276; I (71 C. J . 599) ; As we gather the facts, the nan employediin cleaning out the tank in Tampa were wo rkers.and^halpers who more or less classified as labcrem-snd_.,whOk ?/ere assigned various duties to perform., at different tines. In other words, they werp not tahkWleanersVoy. profession or occupation and they happened to-'be in the tank on this particular occasion because they ware directed to work there. Furthermore, even if these men could be classified as occupational employees, we doubt if Orange State would have a n *outM in sending them into an unusua lly dangerous place to work. We do not believe that even an occupational employee is supposed to encounter more than the'usual and custcjmary'hazards that go with this employment, It was our joint view, thatt probably Ethyl Corporation is liable in the first-instance for placing so dangerous a mixture\in a gas /tank and failing thereafter to remove it. / Under the i Florida:' workmen s Compensation Law, the insurer, boon settling a claim under the lav/ becomes subrogated to the rights of the claimant This means that Maryland Casualty Company, if it settled the claims, would have the right to proceed against Ethyl Corporation. In such event, if a recovery were had, the amount thereof would be determined by the old common law rules* and not by the Florida Workmen*s Compensation Law, assuming, of course, that Ethyl Corporation does not carry suc$ insurance in this state. If the recovery exceeded he amount of damages paid to the claimant under the Florida law, such excess would go to the claimant. \<E 0021074 Orange! state Gil Company Page 3! May 8 , j1940 | LAW OFFICES i H U D SO N & CASO N ! MIAMI. FLORIDA a'a strpngly urged -She insurance company to proceed with settling the claims under the Florida work men *s Compensation Law, but Mr* smith said that so far, no claim had been made and that in any event he would want to make his report to the Home Office anrl get his instructions from headquarters as to furthey proceedings* The insurance company may decide to submit the question of occupational diseases to the Florida Industrial Commission* It is our conclusion that until we hear further from the insurance company, er~tmi2.s3 the claims ee filed by one of the injuysd^peraona"or the family of the jdeceased person, no'further action l^e taken with respeot to this matter# " . ! `fours truly,,- mtD30N & 0ASOS 71'V;;*r*?t.1i ; Vi-Csfi'SG'J I K E 0021075