Document LxBx4MjQM72gXzDd6Km342bq

ESTABLISHED(IBSOQB2 W .T / Z*' E. I. d u P o n t d e N e m o u r s S C o m p a n y IN CORPORATED Wil m in g t o n . De l a w a r e M E D I CAL, D I R E C T O R 'S O F F I C E , March 28, 1938 h y iM,y {-Vy?.' Dr. Robert Kehoe \ University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio - My dear Kehoe: . I have just returned from a trip to Baton Rouge, where everything seems to be going very nicely with the exception of a case which is coming u p for trial on April 12, based on alleged lead poisoning. Dr. M a c h l e has seen the man, w hose n a m e is and I believe is agreed with us that the claim is unjustified. How- ;J%%? ever, we have had enough experience in the State of Louisiana to know that from the legal standpoint we are not sitting in a very ' r v- happy position and anything may happen. As a matter of fact, we look . . ' . - '. forward to the future with a great deal of foreboding from the '. ' medico-legal standpoint, realizing that although the compensation law M i is well written, the administration of the law is bad: and we stand to d t - : - . : . . . . . . . .' ' . .. lose a considerable amount of money. - Vr The doctors in Baton Rouge know-very little about lead intoxication and the doctor who is with J ^ j p b n this particular case . knows less tha n "a little,. 'I a m vcertain; a l t ho ugh I h a v e ' n o t talked ":% : to him but have simply gathered my information from third party sources. It is extremely important that we wi n this first case because if we . lose it, it will simply open the wa y for a lot of subsequent suits -- of alleged poisoning and with this case as a precedent we are almost p" bound to lose. -* kr We have discussed the'matter of having testimony given by : our own witnesses and our Mr. Porter, who represents the Company in B aton Rouge, advises against this. VIH e states-that the judges in that part of the country are particularly paytial to local witnesses and resent outside experts, even to the extent of experts w h o come r,.- f r o m N e w Orleans. This being so, we have decided against putting anybody on the stand, but on the other h a n d it is extremely important that we prepare our lawyer for his defense and sit by to help him in the cross examination. We are extremely anxious to have y ou or Machle, whomever you decide upon, in Baton Rouge the day before the trial, at which time we will plan the attack with Mr. Porter, our attorney. At that time we can give h i m some information on lead intoxication f r o m the l a y standpoint and, when the doctor wh o is backing Metz comes on the stand, help him to discredit his testimony in every way possible. ; I believe that one of the points which we should be pre pared to tear down would be his excretion analysis which I understand he has had done because therein lis a very fertile field of attack. There is a possibility of their switching their case to one of the solvents contained in.the paint and I expect to be on hand to help out from this'side. I hope that y o u will be able to arrange it so that one of you can be on hand for this trial, and trust that you will write me Kf 0017137 te L-- C* ' k'-t.i o .`i' v - i _ - ';- . 3 -. as soon as possible. In the event that you cannot help us in ': . ' "* * " ** V , i * i * ^ - -r ,, i _ this matter, we will have Dr. von Oettingen on hand. Yours very truly, MECDDIICCAIAiL_^DDII\V I S I O N G. H. Gehrmann, M T d ., Me d i c a l D i r e c t o r