The Basics of Business History: Nos. 60 to 41

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60. The California asbestos lawsuits: October 1978.

Workers at Todd Shipyard and Long Beach Naval Shipyard in Southern California file a class-action suit seeking all profits -- estimated at $1 billion -- made since 1938 by 15 of the nation's major asbestos manufacturers. The largest asbestos manufacturer, onetime Dow component Johns Manville, would declare bankruptcy in 1982. By 1995, despite thousands of settlements, the total number of suits would be about half a million, and claims wouldn't be over. ...