Document KRX1X6J061dj73e74Xy1KvzL6

FILE NAME Special Asbestos SA DATE 1978 Oct 30 DOC SA011 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Published Article from Newspaper THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Monday Oct. 30 1978 Fifteen Asbestos Firms Are Sued for $ Billion In Worker Health Case LOS ANGELES UPI - A 1 billion action lawsuit was filed on behalf of 5,000 shipyard workers charging 15 major asbestos manufacturers with conspiracy to conceal and to distort reports on the health dangers of asbestos oe More than 1,000 asbestos lawsuits | are filed nationwide but Friday's Los Ange les superior court action is believed to be the largest scope The suit asks for general and punitive| damages and for medical expenses and loss of earnings on behalf of each worker te oy | was extremely _ Asbestos and is an haz- ardous substance and was and is unsafe and defective when used in the construction re- pair and maintenance of seagoing vessels by workers at Todd Pacific Shipyard in San Pedro and the Long Beach Naval Shipyard re the suit contends : RR When breathed the tiny asbestos parti- cles cause severe disabling and deadly conditions of the lungs and respiratory problems including lung cancer the suit said The suit said the defendant companies caused the workers and their employers to be deprived of knowledge and information of the material's dangerous nature As a result the companies did not take those mea- sures necessary for the protection of the health and lives of plaintiffs Additionally the suit contends the defendants have been unjustly enriched by the profits of their continued manufacture and sale of asbestos during the period of their concealment of the facts 1938 to present Thus the suit says the companies are indebted to the injured workers in the amount of their profits since that timeabout $ billion Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they be- lieved this was the first time in an astestos- related lawsuit that workers had asked for restitution of profits a legal remedy that generally is confined to one aggrieved businessman suing another businessman Defendants in the suit are Manville Corp Manhattan Inc Owens- Corning Fiberglas Corp Celotex Corp Philip Carey Corp Picher Industries Inc Pittsburgh Corp Unarco Industries Inc Combustion Engineering Inc Standard Asbestos Manufacturing & Insulat ing Co Rubberoid Co Keene Corp Armstrong Cork Co H.R. Purier Co. and Amo- | tex 070114 Spec_Mat_0067604