Johns Manville

John Manville has four core values that are central to the company and that underlie everything we do. The corporate commitments by which we live are people, safety, ethics, and environmental leadership. For the first time, JM agrees to place warning labels on its asbestos products. The company and its co-defendants are found guilty of contributory negligence in asbestos-related litigation. The company reorganizes its corporate structure, creating a new parent company, Manville Corporation, and five subsidiaries. Asbestos litigation prompts the company to file for protection under Chapter 11. Johns Manville Corporation (JM) operates as a leading manufacturer and marketer of insulation products for buildings and equipment, roofing systems, and various engineered products, including fibers, fabric and nonwoven mats, and filtration media. The company has 55 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, and China. Until the mid-1980s, JM mined and sold asbestos for use in insulation, building, aerospace, automotive, and other industries. The company divested itself of its interests in all asbestos-related businesses but remained involved in substantial litigation brought by asbestos workers with claims based on the effects of working with the material. As such, JM underwent significant restructuring in the 1990s and was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 2001. The management of JM was relatively stable over the years. The Manville family remained active in the management of the company through most of the twentieth century. From 1921 to 1923, Thomas F. Manville headed the company as president, treasurer, and a member of the board. In 1924, he became chairman; H.E. Manville was elected president and T.F. Manville, Jr. joined the board of directors. By 1928, H.E. Manville and Thomas Manville, Jr. sat on the board, while T.F. Merseles served as the company's president. In 1930, H.E. Manville was named chairman of the executive committee and L.H. Brown became president. This hierarchy continued until 1939. In 1927, JM became a publicly held corporation. During the 1920s and 1930s, JM acquired several mining and manufacturing operations in the United States and Canada. Purchases included the Celite Company of California, miners and processors of diatomaceous earth--diatomite is a filtering agent--in 1928 and, in 1930, the Stevens Sound Proofing Company of Chicago, owners of patents for sound insulation. As early as 1929, JM was defending itself against lawsuits for asbestos-related deaths. Asbestosis is a nonmalignant scarring of the lungs caused solely by exposure to asbestos. The incidence of the disease seems to be related to the duration and intensity of exposure. It may take decades for evidence of the disease to appear. Mesothelioma is a form of cancer associated with asbestos that affects the linings of the chest or abdominal cavities and that usually kills its victims within a year of its appearance. The legal issues in asbestos cases centered on the following two questions. When did the health hazards of working with asbestos become foreseeable? When warnings were issued, did they adequately communicate the danger? From the beginning, JM claimed that employees were contributorily negligent because they knew or should have known the dangers associated with asbestos and taken precautions. Manville used this defense, often successfully, in cases filed during the next four decades. In addition, Manville continued to argue into the 1980s that until 1964 there was no known reason to warn insulation workers of the dangers of working with asbestos. Plaintiffs countered that warning labels should have been in use as early as the 1950s. In 1930, Dr. A.J. Lanza of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company began a four-year study, Effects of Inhalation of Asbestos Dust upon the Lungs of Asbestos Workers . Based on his findings, in late 1933 Lanza recommended that JM perform dust counts at its plants. Vandiver Brown, who s