Today, asbestos is universally recognized as a highly toxic substance. But just a few decades ago, asbestos was one of the most widely used materials in the U.S. It was used as a building material and the base ingredient for thousands of products. Sadly, this proliferation of asbestos resulted in the biggest man-made epidemic in history which claimed countless lives.
The scale of the human tragedy caused by asbestos could have been significantly reduced if the companies that mined and sold asbestos and asbestos-based products had not denied and concealed the true danger of asbestos from the American public.
If you or someone in your family has been impacted by asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, you can get financial compensation from these companies by filing an asbestos lawsuit. Contact our asbestos lawyers today.
OTHER ASBESTOS CONTENT:
Mesothelioma Lawsuit Settlement Amounts
Asbestos Companies Knew About the Dangers Very Early On
The industrial use of asbestos dates back to around the 1870s when the mineral started being mined and used commercially on a large scale. It didn’t take long for the first signs of danger to emerge. By the late 1890s, the European medical community first began to notice and document signs of respiratory problems in people who mined and worked with asbestos.
The first documented report identifying a link between occupational asbestos exposure and serious respiratory disease came from a British factor inspector in 1898. Similar accounts were published in France (1907) and Italy (1908). The U.S. publication regarding the health hazards of working around asbestos did not come until 1918.
Medical case study reports documenting the symptoms of asbestosis appeared in the 1920s. IN 1930, a magazine published a Report on the Effects of Asbestos Duston the Lungs and Dust Suppression in the Asbestos Industry, which was one of the first scientific articles about the hazards of asbestos. Later that year, the U.S. Department of Labor called for the asbestos industry to implement exhaust systems and other safety measures.
Origins of the Asbestos Cover-Up
The conspiracy by the asbestos industry to conceal the health dangers of asbestos dates back to 1935. During that year, a group of over 50 of the most significant industrial companies in the country sent representatives to the “Symposium on Dust Problems at the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research.” At this symposium, the groundwork for the asbestos cover-up was laid.
A crucial part of the plan involved the creation of various industry trade groups that were deceptively named to create the false and misleading impression that they were quasi-government organizations aimed at promoting health and safety. For example, the Air Hygiene Foundation (later renamed the Industrial Hygiene Foundation) was established in 1936. The primary purpose of this organization was to protect industrial corporations against occupation injury claims, but it outwardly appeared to be a public interest organization.
The Industrial Hygiene Foundation and the other trade groups posing as health agencies then started publishing what were held out to be “official” health and safety standards for things like air quality, and asbestos exposure. These standards purported to be based on scientific research and data, but they were actually not based on anything. These safety standards were very high levels that were arbitrarily set to help protect companies from liability.
After creating and publishing these self-serving safety standards, the industry organization then started lobbying various government organizations to formally adopt the standards and give them the force of law. For the most part, these efforts were successful and once the standards were adopted by the government agencies, they gave the companies a powerful shield that would take decades to penetrate.
Suppression of Asbestos Occupational Exposure Claims
The creation of their own self-made safety standards and regulations beginning in the 1930s was so effective that it gave the asbestos companies a free pass that lasted for several decades. The companies used the safety standards to effectively block all external claims and questions about the possible hazards of asbestos.
Meanwhile, executives at asbestos companies continued to receive a steady stream of internal evidence and information about the impact that asbestos exposure was having on the health of their employees. Medical reports detailing the clear link between death and disease and asbestos were deliberately concealed from the public and the employees.
Rather than implement protective safety measures or provide employees with personal protective equipment to prevent harm from asbestos exposure, the asbestos companies simply fell back on their safety standards and ignored the evidence. When employees got sick, they were bought off with very small compensation payments.
When the first asbestos lawsuits started getting filed, the asbestos companies claimed they were unaware of the potential dangers of asbestos. They also cited the safety standards as evidence. These defenses worked fairly effectively and many of the earliest asbestos cases resulted in defense victories.
The Sumner Simpson Papers
The industry-wide asbestos conspiracy was dramatically and conclusively exposed in 1977 by a stash of 6,000 pages worth of documents called the Sumner Simpson papers were found during civil discovery in an asbestos lawsuit. The Sumner Simpson papers provided detailed proof of how the asbestos industry collectively concealed and covered up the dangers of asbestos for decades.
The “Sumner Simpson Papers” are documents from two American asbestos-producing corporations: Raybestos-Manhattan and Johns-Manville. Named after the president of Raybestos-Manhattan at that time, these documents have been used as evidence in lawsuits and have played a significant role in the history of asbestos litigation.
In the early 20th century, the harmful effects of asbestos were already known among the scientific and medical community, but the general public was largely unaware. The “Sumner Simpson Papers” reveal that both the Raybestos-Manhattan and Johns-Manville corporations were aware of the dangers of asbestos exposure but chose to suppress this information in an effort to protect their profits.
They Knew What Asbestos Did
This secret correspondence between Sumner Simpson of Raybestos-Manhattan and Vandiver Brown of Johns-Manville took place during the 1930s and 1940s. In these letters, the executives discussed the need to keep quiet about the health risks of asbestos to their workers and the general public. They also conspired to influence scientific research and publications regarding asbestos in order to downplay its harmful effects.
The papers were discovered in the 1980s and have since played a crucial role in asbestos litigation. They have been used as evidence to prove that the asbestos industry was aware of the dangers of their products, yet continued to produce and sell them without warning their workers or the public.
Litigation Turning Point
The extent of the corporate conspiracy revealed by these documents was shocking and generated much public attention. This was the pivotal turning point in the history of asbestos and asbestos litigation. The Sumner Simpson papers led to thousands of asbestos lawsuits, billions in compensation payouts to victims, and countless corporate bankruptcies.
The exposure of the asbestos cover-up conspiracy has enabled victims who were harmed by asbestos exposure to bring civil lawsuits and get billions of dollars in jury payouts and settlement compensation for victims of asbestos-related diseases and their families.
List of Companies Involved in Asbestos Lawsuits
All of the companies listed below have or had some involvement or connection to the manufacture, design or sale of asbestos or asbestos-based products. This list also includes companies that have indirect liability for asbestos injuries because they owned subsidiaries that used to make asbestos products or they made products that required the use of asbestos.
If you believe you have been exposed to asbestos through your work, browse our partial list below of companies linked to asbestos exposure. If you have worked at one of these asbestos companies in the past, you should tell your doctor you may have been exposed to asbestos.
3M Companies
ABB Inc.
ABB Lummus
ABB Lummus Global, Inc
A.P. Green Industries
A.P.I. Inc of Minnesota
Aldrich Pump L.L.C. & Murray Boiler L.L.C./Trane U.S. Inc.
Alfa Laval Inc., individually and as successor-in-interest to Sharples, Inc., Alfa-Laval Separation, Inc. and DeLaval Separator Company
Allis-Chalmers A.W. Chesterton Company
Allis-Chalmers Corporation
American Asbestos Company
American Biltrite Inc.
American Cyanamid
American Electric Power
American Foreign Steamship
American Home Products
American Honda Corp.
American Insulated Wire
American International Co.
American Optical Company
American Olean Tile Co.
American Saturated Felt
American Standard
Amatex Corporation
Amber Supply Co.
Amchem/American Chemical
Amcord
Anchor Packing Co
Anco Insulation
Anheuser Busch
API Heat Transfer
Aqua Chem
Argo International Corp.
Armstrong International
Armstrong World Industries, Inc.
Ashland Specialty Chemical
Astra Flooring Company
AT&T Corp.
Atlantic Richfield Company
Atlas Electric Supply Co.
Atlas Heating and Ventilating
Atlas Turner
Attransco Ship Management
Aurora Pump Company
Auto Barn Stores
Automatic T.L.C. Fuel Oil
Autozone Inc.
Avco Corp.
Aventis Cropscience U.S.A. Inc.
Avocet Enterprises
Avondale Industries Inc.
Babcock & Wilcox
Badger Metals Inc.
Baker Hughes Oilfield
Bakers Pride Oven Co.
Baldor Electric Company
Barko Hydraulics, Llc
BASF SE
Bartells Asbestos Settlement Trust
Bath Iron Works
Bayer Corp.
Bayonne Plumbing Supply
Beadex
Bear Stearns Companies
Bechtel Corp.
Beckett Corp.
Beech Aircraft Corp.
Belden Wire and Cable Co.
Bell & Gossett Company
Bell Asbestos Mines Ltd.
Bell Atlantic Corp.
Bendix Corp. fka AlliedSignal
Bergen Tile & Linoleum Co.
Best Manufacturing Co.
Bestobell Steam Traps
Bethlehem Apparatus
BF Goodrich Company
B.H.P. Copper
Biltrite Corp., The
Bird Incorporated
Blackman Plumbing Supply
BMW of North America, Llc
BNSF Railway Company
Boeing Company, The
Bohn Aluminum
Boise Cascade Corp.
Borg Warner Automotive
Bostik
Bondex International
B.P. Amoco
Brauer Supply Company
Bridgestone Tire Co.
British Airways Plc
Buffalo Air Handling
Buffalo Pumps
Burnham Corp.
Burns & Roe
Burns International Services
CE Thurston
California Portland Cement
Camden Flooring Company
Canteen Corp.
Capital Gypsum
Carboline Company
Carborundum Company
Carey Canada Mines
Carlisle Companies Inc.
Carrier Corporation
Carver Pump Company
Caterpillar
C.B.S. Corp.
Celotex
Central Hudson Gas & Electric
Central Jersey Supply
Central Pipe Supply
Central Power & Light
CertainTeed Corporation
Champion Friction Co.
Chemrex
Chevron Corp.
Chevron Shipping Co.
Chicago Bridge & Iron
Chicago Fire Brick
Chicago Pneumatic
Chiquita Brands International
Ciba-Geigy Corp.
Cilco Energy Corp.
Clarage Fan Company
Cleaver Brooks Co.
Colonial Sugar & Refining
Coltec Industries
Columbia Acoustics
Columbia Boiler Co.
Columbia Pictures Industries
Combustion Engineering
Comet Auto Supply
Commonwealth Edison
Compudyne Corp.
Conagra Foods
Conair Corp.
Congoleum
Connecticut Light & Power
Consolidated Edison of N.Y.
Consolidated Insulation
Consolidated Rail Corp.
Conval
Conwed Corp.
Cooper Industries
Cooper Tire & Rubber
Cooper-Standard Automotive
Core Furnace Systems Corp.
Corning Inc.
Corrpro Companies
Courter & Company
Crane Co.
Crescent Electric Supply
Crocker-Wheeler Company
Crosby Valve
Crown Boiler Co.
Crown Cork & Seal Company
C.S.R. Limited
CSX Transportation Inc.
Custom Building Products
Cutler-Hammer
Cypress Plumbing & Heating
Cyprus Amax Minerals Co.
D.A. Stuart Company
D.L. Steiner
DAL-Tile International
Dana Corporation
D.A.P.
DB Riley
Dean Pump Division
Deere & Company
DeKalb Tile Company
Delaval Steam Turbine
Dereco Inc.
Dial Corp., individually and as successor to Griscom-Russell Schack Company, Inc.
Detroit Stoker Company
Diamond National Corp.
Dole Foods
Domco Products Texas, L.P.
Donald Durham Company
Donaldson Acoustics Co.
Donlee Technologies
Douglass Insulation
Dow Chemical Company
Dowman Products
Dresser-Rand
Duke Power Energy Carolinas
Dunkirk
Dupont
Durabla
Durametallic Corp.
Durfee Hardware
Dynamic Seals
Duro Dyne Corporation
E&B Mill Supply
E. J. Bartells Company
Eagle-Picher Industries
East Kentucky Power Cooperative
Eastern Refractories Co.
Eastman Kodak Company
Eaton Electrical Inc.
Eckel Industries
Edward Valves
EI Dupont de Nemours
Electric Boat Corp.
Electrolux
Eli Lilly and Company
Elliott Turbomachinery Co.
Elm Supply CoInc.
Empire Ace Insulation Mfg.
Enpro Industries
Equistar Chemicals, L.P.
Equitable Company, The
Ericcson
Essex Plumbing Supply
Essex Wire Corp.
Evcon Industries
Expo Industries
Exxon Mobil Corp.
F. A. Richard & Associates, Inc.
Fairbanks Morse Pump Corp.
Fairchild Corp.
Falk Corp., The
Farrell Lines
Federal Boiler Company
Feldman Lumber Industries
Fel-Pro
Felt Products Mfg. Co.
Fiat U.S.A.
First Hartford Corp.
FirstEnergy Corp.
Fisher Scientific Company
Fitzgibbons Boiler Company
Flexitallic
Flowserve Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Byron Jackson and Sier Bath Gear & Pump Co.
Flowserve U.S. Inc., f/k/a Flowserve Pump Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Anchor Darling Valve Company
F.M.C. Corp.
Ford Motor Company
Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation
Foster Wheeler, L.L.C.
Forty-Eight Insulations
G&G Seal Co.
Gage Company, The
G.A.F. Corporation
Gardner Denver, Inc.
Garlock Sealing Technologies, L.L.C., individually and as a successor-in-interest to Garlock, Inc.
Garson Plumbing Supplies
General Cable Corp.
General Dynamics Corp.
General Electric Company
General Motors
General Refractories Co.
George A. Fuller Company
Georgia-Pacific Corporation
Gould’s Pumps, Incorporated
Graham Corp.
Granite Construction Co.
Granite Rock Company
Grant Wilson
Graphic Construction Corp.
Graves Automotive Supply
Graybar Electric Company
Grinnell Corp.
Grossman’s Lumber
Gulf Oil Limited Partnership
H.B. Fuller Company
H.B. Smith Company
H.B. Smith Company Incorporated
Hamon Research-Cottrell, individually and as successor to Research-Cottrell
Hanson Permanente Cement, Inc. f/k/a Kaiser Cement Corporation
Hardie-Tynes Co., Inc.
Harley-Davidson
Harris Corporation
Harrisburg Glass, Inc.
Harbison Walker
Hedman Mines, Ltd.
Henry Vogt Machine Co.
Henry Technologies, Inc., f/k/a Henry Valve Co.
Highland Stucco
Hill Brothers Chemical Co.
Hirsch Pipe & Supply Co.
Holland Furnace
Hollinger Company
Hollingsworth & Vose Co.
Homasote Company
Honeywell International L.L.C.
Hopeman Brothers
Hudson Heating
Hudson Iron and Metal Co.
Hunt Construction
Hysol Aerospace Corporation
I.C.I. Composites
I.M.O. Industries, Inc., individually and as successor-in-interest to DeLaval Turbine, Inc. and Warren Pumps, Inc.
I.M.O. Industries, Inc., as successor-in-interest to and f/k/a DeLaval Turbine, Transamerica DeLaval, I.M.O. DeLaval and Enterprise Engine & Foundry Co.
Imerys
Industrial Holdings Corp.
Industrial Insulation
Industrial Welding Supply
Insulation Supply Corp.
Intelli-Pack Corp.
Interlake Corp.
International Paper Co.
International Salt Co.
International Shipholding Corp.
I.T.T. Corp.
Jacuzzi Brands, Inc.
JH France Refractories Corporation
J.M. Asbestos Sales Co.
J.M. Huber Corp.
John Crane, Inc.
Johns-Manville
Johnson & Johnson
Johnston Boiler
Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc.
Kaiser Permanente Cement
Keene Corp.
Kelly-Moore Paint Co.
Kentile Floors, Inc.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Kohler Co.
Koppers Co.
Kroger Co.
L&M Insulation Supply
Lamons Gasket Co.
Lancaster Chemical
Lear Corporation
Leslie Controls, Inc.
Lewellyn Insulation
Libby-Owens-Ford Co.
Linde Air Products Co.
Lockheed Martin Corp.
Louisiana-Pacific Corp.
Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc.
L.T.V. Steel Co.
Lubrizol Corp.
Lyondell Chemical Co.
M&M Insulation Supply
M & M Manufacturing
M.H. Detrick Co.
MacArthur Co.
Madison Industries
Maremont Corp.
Marshall Durbin Food Corp.
Marshalltown Mfg. Co.
Masonite Corp.
Master Flo Valve
McCord Corp.
McDonnell Douglas Corp.
McKesson Corp.
Mead Corp.
Medusa Corp.
Merck & Co.
Metalclad Insulation Corp.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
Mid-Valley Plumbing & Supply
Mid-Valley Supply
Midwest Asbestos Co.
Midwest Insulation Supply
Milford Pipe Supply
Mills Insulation Supply
Mobil Oil Corp.
Mohawk Industries, Inc.
Monsey Products Co.
Monsanto Co.
Moore & Munger
Morgan Crucible Co.
Motorola Inc.
Murphy Valve
NARCO/Honeywell
National Gypsum
New Jersey Insulation Supply Co.
Newark Insulation Supply
Newport News Shipbuilding
Noble Drilling Services, Inc.
Norandex Building Materials Distribution
Norfolk Southern Railway Co.
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Northwestern Insulation Supply
Norton Company
Oakfab Co. Inc.
Oglebay Norton Company
Okonite Company
Olin Corp.
Olympus America Inc.
Ormet Corp.
Outboard Marine Corporation
Owens Corning/Fibreboard
Owens-Illinois, Inc.
Pacor
Paddock Enterprises L.L.C. (Owens-Illinois Inc.)
Parker-Hannifin Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Dennison Engineering
P.C.C. Flow Technologies Holdings, Inc., individually and as successor-in-interest to Johnston Pump Company
Peerless Industries Company, Inc.
Peerless Pump Company, Inc.
Pentair, Inc.
Pfizer Inc.
Plant Insulation Company
Plant Products & Supply Co.
Plibrico
Plibrico Construction
Plumbing Distributors Inc.
Plumbing Wholesalers Inc.
Porter-Hayden
Pratt & Whitney
P.P.G. Industries, Inc.
Preservation Co.
Proctor & Gamble Co.
Puget Sound Energy
Pulaski Plumbing & Heating Supply
Pulaski Products Corp.
Purity Wholesale Grocers
Puron Refrigerants Inc.
Pyrotenax
Quaker Chemical Corporation
Quigley Company, Inc.
Quimby Equipment Co., Inc.
Quintec Industries, Inc.
Rapid-American Corporation as successor-in-interest to Phillip Carey Manufacturing Corp.
R.B.C. Bearings Inc.
Reardon Co., The
Redken Laboratories Inc.
Refractory & Insulation Supply Co.
Republic Powdered Metals
Rheem-Manufacturing Company
Robert A. Keasbey, Co.
Robinson Plumbing & Heating Supply
Roofers Mart of N.J.
Roofing and Insulation Supply Co.
Roper Pump Company
Roto Insulation Co.
Saberhagen Holdings, Inc., as successor to Tacoma Asbestos Company and The Brower Company
Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc.
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp.
Schutte & Koerting, Inc.
Selby Battersby & Company
Sepco Corporation
Sertex Insulation Supply Co.
Sherwin-Williams Co.
Shook & Fletcher
Sigma-Aldrich Corp.
Spirax Sarco, Inc.
Sprague Products, a division of Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corporation
S.P.X. Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to United Dominion Industries, The Marley Company, Wylain, Inc., Weil-McLain, a Division of Wylain, Inc., and Weil-McLain Company
Sterling Fluid Systems (U.S.A.), L.L.C., as successor to Peerless Pump Company
Stewart Warner Corporation
Swenson Technology, Inc.
Syd Carpenter Marine Contractor, Inc.
TACO, Inc.
Tennessee Insulation Supply Co.
The Anchor Packing Co.
The Dial Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Griscom-Russell Company
The Fulton Companies, individually and as successor to Fulton Boiler Works
The Gorman-Rupp Company, individually and as successor-in-interest to Patterson Pump Company, and C.H. Wheeler
The Nash Engineering Company, Inc.
The Trane Company, individually and as a subsidiary of American Standard, Inc.
Thermal Control Systems Inc.
Thomas Dee Engineering Co., Inc.
Thorpe Insulation Company
Treadwell Corporation
Triple A Machine Shop, Inc.
Tuthill Corporation, individually and as successor-in-interest to Westinghouse Electric Corporation and BF Sturtevant
Tyco Flow Control, Inc., individually and as successor-in-interest to Yarway Corporation
Union Carbide Corporation
Uniroyal, Inc.
United Gilsonite Laboratories
United Insulation Company
United States Gypsum
United States Mineral Products
United Technologies Corp.
U.S. Electrical Motors
Viacom, Inc., by merger with C.B.S. Corporation f/k/a Westinghouse Electric Corporation successor-in-interest to BF Sturtevant Co.
VIAD Corp, f/k/a The Dial
Viking Pump, Inc., a Unit of IDEX Corporation
Vulcan Materials Co.
W.R. Grace
W.W. Grainger, Inc.
Wacker Chemical Corp.
Ward Boiler Co.
Warren Pumps, Inc.
Weil-McClain, a division of the Marley Company
Westinghouse Electric Corp.
Westvaco Corp.
Weyerhaeuser Co.
Whirlpool Corp.
White Consolidated Industries
Whiting Corporation
Wilkes Barre Plumbing Supply
Williams & Company
Wilson Auto Electric
Winkler, Inc.
Wolverine World Wide Inc.
Wood Conversion Co.
Woodward Governor Co.
Worthington Industries
Wylie Plumbing Supply
Wyman-Gordon Forgings
Xerox Corporation
Xerxes Corporation
Yarway Corporation
York International Corp.
Young Insulation Group of St. Louis
Zurn Industries, Inc.
Getting an Asbestos Lawyer – We Make It Easy
If you or someone you care about has received a mesothelioma diagnosis, seeking legal representation could help you pursue financial recovery through a mesothelioma lawsuit or accessing an asbestos trust fund. Contact us today to explore the most suitable path for obtaining the compensation you rightfully deserve. Call 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.