Document YoEQVXgnmQdx0pqpRgJkyyyk

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 $1 Billion In Worker Health Case LOS ANGELES (UP1) - A t l billion class-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. More than 1,000 asbestos-related lawsuits are filed nationwide, but Friday's Los Ange les superior court action is believed to be j the largest In scope. The suit asks for general and punitive' damages and for medical expenses and loss of earnings on behalf of each injured worker. > , " Asbestos was and is an extremely haz ardous substance and was apd is unsafe and i defective when used In the construction, re- / pair and maintenance of seagoing vessels by l workers at Todd Pacific Shipyard in San / Pedro and the Lang Beach Naval Shipyard," > the suit contends. When breathed, the tiny asbestos parti- y cles cause severe, disabling and deadly con ditions of the lungs and respiratory prob- lems 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 J the m aterial's dangerous nature. As a re- [ suit, the companies "did not take those mea- sures necessary for the protection of the health and lives of plaintiffs.'' Additionally, the suit contends the defen- ) dants " 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 time-- about Si billion. Lawyers for the plaintiffs, said they be lieved this was the first time in an astestos- rel&ted lawsuit that workers had asked for restitution of profits, a legal remedy that generally is confined to ore aggrieved busi nessman suing another businessman. Defendants in the suit are Jobns-Manvllle Corp.; Raybestos-Manhattan Inc.; Owens- Coming Fiberglas Corp.; Celotex Corp.; Philip Carey Corp.; Eagle-Picher Industries Inc.; Pittsburgh-Coming Corp.; Unarco In dustries Inc.; Combustion Engineering Inc.; Standard Asbestos Manufacturing & insulat ing Co.; Rubberoid Co.; Keene Corp.; Arm strong Cork Co.; H.R. Purier Co. and Amo- Itex. ;