University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections, United Kingdom

Finding Aid - Laurie Flynn papers on the asbestos industry (FLYNN)

Generated by University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections, United Kingdom on May 17, 2021
Language of description: English

Table of contents
Summary information  	  # 
Administrative history / Biographical sketch  	  # 
Scope and content  	  # 
Notes  	  # 
Physical condition  	  # 
Access points  	  # 
Collection holdings  	  # 
FLYNN/1, Mining in South Africa (1938 - 2005)  	  # 
FLYNN/1/1, Journalistic projects, research materials, correspondence (1938-2005)  	  # 
FLYNN/1/2, Depositions from asbestos lawsuits 1975-1996 (1975-1997)  	  # 
FLYNN/2, Asbestos litigation in North America (1934-2005)  	  # 
FLYNN/2/1, Film projects (1981-1996)  	  # 
FLYNN/2/2, Cape & American subsidiaries, in particular the North American Asbestos Corporation (NAAC) (1934-2005)  	  # 
FLYNN/2/3, Depositions (1975-1983)  	  # 
FLYNN/3, Asbestos in the United Kingdom (1953-2005)  	  # 
FLYNN/4, Cape Asbestos corporate papers (1893-2000)  	  # 

Summary information
Repository:	University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections, United Kingdom	
Title:	Laurie Flynn papers on the asbestos industry	
Reference code:	FLYNN	
Date:	1893 - 2005 (date of creation)	
Language:	English	
Physical description:	3 metres / 17 archive boxes
Predominantly paper; microfiche	
Administrative history / Biographical sketch
Note
Flynn was born in Farnborough, Kent, and grew up in Scotland. After completing high school in Edinburgh, he studied sociology, philosophy and economics at the London School of Economics (LSE). Among his teachers were John Westergaard, Orlando Patterson and the Marxist sociologist Ralph Miliband.
Following his graduation from the LSE in 1968 (BA Hons Sociology), Flynn embarked on a career in journalism. After a brief period as copy boy in the composing room of ‘The Times’, he worked as trainee reporter at \ Construction News\ , then for the \ Socialist Worker\  (1972-1978). One of the investigations he conducted under the supervision of Sidney Lenssen, the editor of \ Construction News\ , led to his first encounter with asbestos, a word and an industry of which Flynn had not previously been aware. In the spring of 1974 he wrote ‘Asbestos murders’, a series of articles in the \ Socialist Worker\  indicting the Scottish lagging industry. A pamphlet version appeared under the title \ Asbestos: the dust that kills in the name of profit\ .
In 1979 Flynn joined World in Action (WIA), Granada Television’s current affairs programme. Initially he contributed as a researcher, eventually as senior producer. Flynn won journalistic prizes for the documentaries ‘Dust to dust’ (an investigation of the scandalous conditions in British and South African-owned asbestos mines in the Northern Cape, 1981) and ‘The betrayal of Bhopal’ (which uncovered the business malpractices of Union Carbide in India, 1985). The WIA documentary on the Kinross gold mining disaster, ‘Death is part of the process’ (1986), was selected as the ITV entry for the Montreux Festival.
From 1990 Flynn freelanced for nearly a decade for the BBC, ITV and Channel Four. In 1998 he joined the editorial staff of \ The Guardian\  as part of a two person investigation unit, famously exposing the much-garlanded Carlton documentary ‘The connection’ as a fabrication. For this he received (jointly with Michael Sean Gillard) the Scoop of the Year at the British Press Awards, 1999.
Since 2002 he has been freelancing again. The conclusions of the last project of \ The Guardian\  investigation unit prior to his and Gillard’s departure appeared in book-form in 2004, under the title ‘Untouchables: dirty cops, bent justice and racism in Scotland Yard’ (London: Bloomsbury) .
Flynn’s notable output further includes:
- ‘A small town tragedy’ (1982), a WIA documentary about the refusal of a British asbestos company to pay compensation awarded against them in an American Court to workers in their North American subsidiary
- ‘Studded with diamonds and paved with gold: miners, mining companies and human rights in Southern Africa’ (1992, London: Bloomsbury)
- (with Geoffrey Tweedale) ‘Piercing the corporate veil: Cape Industries and multinational corporate liability for a toxic hazard, 1950-2004’, ‘Enterprise and society’ 8 (2) (2007), 268-296, DOI: 10.1017/S1467222700005863
Administrative history / Biographical sketch
Note
Geoffrey Tweedale was Professor of Business History at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. He has a long-standing interest in the history of occupational health and has written studies on asbestos-related diseases, byssinosis, silicosis, and cancers in the chemical and cotton industries.
His publications relating specifically to the asbestos industry include:
- ‘Magic mineral to killer dust: Turner & Newall and the asbestos hazard’ (2nd edition, 2001: Oxford University Press)
- (with Laurie Flynn) ‘Piercing the corporate veil: Cape Industries and multinational corporate liability for a toxic hazard, 1950-2004’, ‘Enterprise and society’ 8 (2) (2007), 268-296, DOI: 10.1017/S1467222700005863
- (with Jock McCulloch) ‘Defending the indefensible: the global asbestos industry and its fight for survival (2008: Oxford University Press)
Custodial history
The collection was given by Flynn in about 2005 to Geoffrey Tweedale who made use of it for his own research, adding some documents. Tweedale donated it to the University of Strathclyde in 2012.
Scope and content
Laurie Flynn’s papers on the asbestos industry span the period 1893-2005 and contain information primarily on the occupational health hazards posed by asbestos. This interest is centred on the activities of Cape Asbestos Company Ltd (and all corresponding names including shell entities) as well as the company’s overseas subsidiaries.
There are 4 main series:
- mining in South Africa, 1938-2005
- asbestos litigation in North America, 1934-2005
- asbestos in the UK, 1953-2005
- Cape Asbestos corporate papers, 1893-2000
The focus of the collection is on employer negligence concerning health and safety, as argued in compensation lawsuits brought against the company and its subsidiaries.
Access to the wealth of business and legal papers brought to light primarily through lawsuits led Flynn to question whether multinational enterprises are as progressive as some commentators (notably business historians) have made out. The depositions, affidavits and court exhibits contained in this collection illuminate the role played by corporations and their representatives (in particular company medics and corporate lawyers) in suppressing scientific evidence concerning the risks of asbestos exposure. The Flynn papers also illustrate the lengths to which Cape Asbestos’ legal advisers went to create complex and confusing company structures in order to distance the parent company from liability (”corporate veil”).
The collection includes some of Flynn’s notebooks and other background research materials for journalistic projects (among them extensive interviews with South African miners and Glasgow laggers), scripts and transcripts for documentaries, press cuttings, scientific literature, and correspondence with health and safety experts, medical specialists, environmental consultants, tort lawyers and asbestos ban campaigners.
In addition to documenting Flynn’s sustained interest in the workings of multinational asbestos enterprise, the collection also includes a little material relating to gold and diamond mining and the medical impact of atomic testing.
Notes
Title notes
Physical condition
Predominantly paper. In order to access the (few) microfiche components, a microfiche reader needs to be used.
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated by Geoffrey Tweedale (Manchester Metropolitan University Business School) in 2012.
Arrangement
Laurie Flynn’s papers on the asbestos industry have been structured geographically in order to reflect original order as closely as possible. There are 4 series-level descriptions, relating in turn to South Africa, North America and the United Kingdom, followed by a small series of Cape Asbestos corporate material. The catalogue closes with a single item, Flynn’s original listing of his files on Cape Asbestos, c. 2004.
There are limits to the geographical logic. The series ‘Mining in South Africa’ includes a number of depositions from lawsuits pursued in American and British jurisdictions, yet by South African plaintiffs or containing information Flynn considered pertinent to their cause. Our catalogue thus preserves Flynn’s suggestion that earlier depositions from quite other parts of the globe mattered specifically to South African lawsuits against the international asbestos industry.
Overall Flynn’s aggregations have been left undisturbed, except where there was exact duplication of content. Where duplicates were removed, the scope note contains a cross reference to the extant copy.
Prior to coming to the University of Strathclyde, Laurie Flynn’s papers on the asbestos industry were used by Geoffrey Tweedale for his own research. As a result, it is not always certain whether an item was added to the collection by Flynn or later by Tweedale. In order to allow future users of the collection to pursue such questions, all container inscriptions have been added to the archival history for each item. Prior to rehousing, the original containers were scanned to ensure against accidental loss of contextual information.
Restrictions on access
Part of one file is restricted in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 1998 and for posthumous medical confidentiality. Otherwise no access restrictions.
Conditions governing use
As of 4 May 2015, copyright in the material is still with creator.
Accruals
Expected
Other notes
Publication status: published
Access points
Asbestos (subject)
Occupational diseases (subject)
Occupational health and safety (subject)
Collection holdings
Series: FLYNN/1 - Mining in South Africa
Title: Mining in South Africa
Reference code: FLYNN/1
Date: 1938 - 2005 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Flynn’s twin interest in the South African mining industry and in international corporations’ conduct in Southern Africa dates back to his period with Granada Television’s current affairs programme World in Action, 1979-1990. Over the ensuing decade he expanded his network of contacts with South African researchers and with lawyers representing South African plaintiffs. This series reflects the broad range of Flynn’s network including its legal dimension.
Physical description: 28 folders / 5.5 archive boxes
Paper and microfiche
Language of the material:
English
Physical condition:
Paper
Restrictions on access:
No access restrictions.
Publication status:
published
Subseries: FLYNN/1/1 - Journalistic projects, research materials, correspondence
Title: Journalistic projects, research materials, correspondence
Reference code: FLYNN/1/1
Date: 1938-2005 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Flynn’s investigations of the South African mining industry covered asbestos, gold and diamond mining and focused in particular on the health and safety conditions of African workers.
Physical description: 14 folders
Paper and microfiche
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
No access restrictions.
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/1/1 - ‘You will know us by the trail of death’
Title: ‘You will know us by the trail of death’
Reference code: FLYNN/1/1/1
Date: 1974-2003 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and news coverage following the out of court settlement in the South African group action brought against Cape plc (formerly Cape Asbestos Company Ltd, from 1974 Cape Industries Ltd) in December 2001, after a 5 year battle. Also earlier notes, correspondence and research materials on the South African asbestos industry. Includes:
- correspondence with ITV re a film project ‘You will know us by the trail of death’ (originally outlined in 1988 under the title ‘Outrageous misconduct - asbestos as metaphor’; see FLYNN/2/1/3)
- set of microfiches of Charter Consolidated company papers, filmed 1978
- Flynn’s handwritten notes on his background research c.1980-1982, including on the suppression of the research of the Johannesburg Pneumoconiosis Research Unit
- correspondence between Richard Creasey (BBC, formerly World in Action) and Anthony Mendelle (employee at Cape Asbestos Company Ltd, Barking 1956-1968) following the BBC documentary ‘The right to know’, April 1974, re producing a WIA documentary about Cape Asbestos in South Africa. See also Mendelle deposition (1984) at FLYNN/1/2/6. Creasey had conducted the investigation for WIA documentary ‘The dust at Acre Mill’ (transmitted in June 1971), the first programme to bring the lethal dangers of asbestos to the attention of the general public, on the example of the Acre Mill asbestos factory at Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper and Microfiche
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
No access restrictions.
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/1/2 - Miners’ compensation in South Africa
Title: Miners’ compensation in South Africa
Reference code: FLYNN/1/1/2
Date: 1938-2000 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Predominantly on mining workers’ compensation. Includes:
- correspondence with John Carol Anthony (Tony) Davies, formerly Director of the National Centre for Occupational Health (Johannesburg), re his project of miners compensation, 1998-2000
- annotated copy of article on asbestos in ‘Mining Annual Review’ 1979
- notes on shop stewards meetings (”Turnall SA minutes”), Durban, 1980s and photocopies of information on Turnall (received from Halton Cheadle, a South African labour lawyer). Founded in 1943, Turnall Holdings Ltd produces building and construction materials and is headquartered in Harare, Zimbabwe
- affidavit of Samuel Manzezulu Sibanyoni in the matter of unionization (National Union of Textile Workers), 1981
- photocopy of an article on South Africa’s asbestos industry, ‘South African Mining and Engineering Journal’, 15 January 1938
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
No access restrictions.
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/1/3 - Miners’ compensation / Leigh Day case origins
Title: Miners’ compensation / Leigh Day case origins
Reference code: FLYNN/1/1/3
Date: 1994-2005 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence chiefly with personal injury lawyer Richard Meeran of Leigh Day & Co solicitors, 1994-2001. Relates to case Afrika et al. v. Cape plc and its argument that a parent company owes a direct duty of care in tort to anybody injured by a subsidiary company in a group. Includes:
- press coverage 2004-2005
- joint asbestos initiative paper of the International Miners Organisation, African Miners Federation, National Union of Mineworkers, and Leigh Day & Co solicitors
- copy of opinions of the Lords of Appeal for Judgement in the cause of Schalk Willem Burger Lubbe et al. v. Cape plc (2000)
- copy of judgement Rachel Jacoba Lubbe & Ors v. Cape plc (1999)
- Flynn’s notes on a meeting on foreign plaintiffs and access to English courts in transnational litigation, British Institute of International and Comparative Law and Solicitors’ Human Rights Group, November 1999
- copy of judgement Moses Fano Sithole et al. v. Thor Chemical Holdings Ltd et al. (1998)
- copy of draft judgement Rachel Jacoba Lubbe & Ors v. Cape plc (1998)
- copy of judgement Rachel Jacoba Lubbe et al. v. Cape plc (1997)
- copy of opinions of the Lords of Appeal for Judgement in the cause of Connelly v. RTZ Corporation plc et al. (1997)
- copy of affidavit John Carol Anthony Davies in Rachel Jacoba Lubbe et al. v. Cape plc (1997)
- copy of affidavit Richard Meeran in Rachel Jacoba Lubbe et al. v. Cape plc (1997)
- copy of consolidated statement of claim, Busisiwe Ngcobo et al. v. Thor Chemicals Holdings Ltd et al. (1995)
- copy of judgement Edward Connelly v. RTZ Corporation plc (1996)
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
No access restrictions.
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/1/4 - ‘The diamond empire’ (1994)
Title: ‘The diamond empire’ (1994)
Reference code: FLYNN/1/1/4
Date: c1980-1993 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Materials relating to research for one or several documentary projects on diamond mining, one of them presumably ‘The diamond empire’ (1994), produced by Flynn for the American current affairs programme ‘Frontline’. Includes:
- research notes and reproductions of cataloguing information re film footage / programmes covering diamond mining and the diamond industry, with emphasis on South Africa, 1966-1993 & n.d.
- extensive roll lists, 1992-1993
- internal memorandum, 1989, re MGM footage from the James Bond film ‘Diamonds are forever’ (1971) becoming available for World in Action or BBC project ‘Diamonds’
- copy transcript of BBC Panorama programme on the collaboration between Russia and South Africa to pit the price of gold and diamonds, recorded from transmission 6 April 1981
Some of the materials may date back to Flynn’s research for World in Action documentary ‘The case of the disappearing diamonds’ (transmitted 28 September 1987). This reported on how billions of pounds’ worth of gem diamonds were stripped from South West Africa over a 20-year period by the world’s largest diamond mining company.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
No access restrictions.
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/1/5 - ‘Death is part of the process’ (1986) and related papers
Title: ‘Death is part of the process’ (1986) and related papers
Reference code: FLYNN/1/1/5
Date: 1981-2001 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- correspondence with South African student Jaine Roberts 2000-2001, copy (2 versions) of Roberts’ Master Thesis on compensation of asbestos-related disease in Sehkukhuneland
- script of World in Action (WIA) documentary ‘Death is part of the process’ (1986), covering the Kinross gold mine disaster
- Flynn’s handwritten notes c.1981 (chiefly re occupational health and asbestos in South Africa)
- Flynn’s “WIA notebooks 1981”
- correspondence 1984-1985 re a South African asbestos documentary project ‘A breathe of death [sic]’, sponsored by BAMCWU, the Black Allied Mining and Construction Workers’ Union
- South African press coverage on asbestos 1981, copies South African Health ‘Work and health’ fact sheets (n.d.)
- annotated copy of Jonathan Myers’ study ‘Asbestos and asbestos-related disease in South Africa’ (Southern Africa Labour & Development Research Unit, Cape Town, 1980)
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
No access restrictions.
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/1/6 - ‘Dust to dust’ (1981) and related papers
Title: ‘Dust to dust’ (1981) and related papers
Reference code: FLYNN/1/1/6
Date: 1957-1998 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- script and transcripts of World in Action documentary ‘Dust to dust’ (1981), manuscript & typescript notes of background interviews; correspondence arising from the documentary’s transmission on 16 November 1981
- correspondence and papers (including galleys) re and arising from Flynn’s article ‘South Africa blacks out blue asbestos risk’, published in New Scientist 22 April 1982
- papers and correspondence re mining in South Africa and Botswana, including:
- copy of death certificate of Hesop Lieberman, 1957
- copy of ‘Field survey in the North Western Cape and at Penge in the Transvaal (asbestos and mesothelioma)’, South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Pneumoconiosis Research Unit, Report No 1/64 (1964)
- report ‘personal sampling’ of asbestos taken in the Mafefe area 1988
- review of Flynn’s book ‘Studded with diamonds and paved with gold’ in Financial Times, 23 July 1993
- Felix et al. (1994) ‘Three minerals, three epidemics — asbestos mining and disease in South Africa’, in Mehlam & Upton (eds.), ‘Advances in modern environmental toxicology: the identification and control of environmental and occupational diseases: Asbestos and Cancer’, vol. 12: 265-286, etc.
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
No access restrictions.
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/1/7 - Wagner thesis
Title: Wagner thesis
Reference code: FLYNN/1/1/7
Date: 1962 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Copy of John Christopher Wagner’s M.D. thesis ‘The pathology of asbestosis in South Africa’, submitted at the School of Pathology, University of Witwatersrand, 1962.
The thesis, which examined the risks of occupational and environmental exposure to asbestos, brought its author significant pressure from the mining industry to stop researching asbestos-related disease in South Africa. In 1962 Wagner accepted a position at the Pneumoconiosis Unit at Llandough Hospital, Wales, where he worked until his retirement in 1988.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
No access restrictions.
Publication status:
published
Subseries: FLYNN/1/2 - Depositions from asbestos lawsuits 1975-1996
Title: Depositions from asbestos lawsuits 1975-1996
Reference code: FLYNN/1/2
Date: 1975-1997 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Depositions from asbestos lawsuits 1975-1996. These were chiefly taken in 1996 and in conjunction with lawsuits filed by South African plaintiffs.
Also includes earlier depositions from other lawsuits with no direct South African connection.
Physical description: 14 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/2/1 - Depositions Matthys Van Rooyen (1996) and Geoffrey Arthur Higham (1975, 1981, 1984)
Title: Depositions Matthys Van Rooyen (1996) and Geoffrey Arthur Higham (1975, 1981, 1984)
Reference code: FLYNN/1/2/1
Date: 1975-1996 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- deposition of Matthys Van Rooyen (6 + 8 November 1996), in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases, Arrington Lead, Civil Action No 93-9-114, Circuit Court of Jones County, Mississippi
- abstract (?1995) and deposition of Geoffrey Arthur Higham (4 June 1975), in Herman Yandle et al. v. PPG Industries, Inc. et al., District Court of Eastern Texas
- abstract (1995) and incomplete deposition of Geoffrey Arthur Higham (8 + 11 April 1981), in Anthony A Barber et al. v. Charter Consolidated Ltd et al., Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
- abstract of deposition of Geoffrey Arthur Higham (3 + 4 October 1984), in Thacker v. UNR Industries [no further detail]
Physical description: 4 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/2/2 - Deposition Justin McKeurtan (1996)
Title: Deposition Justin McKeurtan (1996)
Reference code: FLYNN/1/2/2
Date: 1996-1997 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- deposition of Justin Mackeurtan (19 November 1996), in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases, Arrington Lead, Civil Action No 93-9-114, Circuit Court of Jones County, Mississippi. Deposition taken in Johannesburg, South Africa
Includes covering correspondence from Robert Blackwell (research assistant to Hayden S Dent, attorney), 16 May 1997
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/2/3 - Deposition H E G Wilson (1996)
Title: Deposition H E G Wilson (1996)
Reference code: FLYNN/1/2/3
Date: 1996-1997 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- deposition of H E G Wilson (25 November 1996), in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases, Arrington Lead, Civil Action No 93-9-114, Circuit Court of Jones County, Mississippi. Deposition taken in Johannesburg, South Africa
Includes covering correspondence from Robert Blackwell (research assistant to Hayden S Dent, attorney), 15 May 1997
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/2/4 - Deposition Geoffrey Arthur Higham (1996)
Title: Deposition Geoffrey Arthur Higham (1996)
Reference code: FLYNN/1/2/4
Date: 1996-1997 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- deposition of Geoffrey Arthur Higham (24 October 1996), in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases, Arrington Lead, Civil Action No 93-9-114, Circuit Court of Jones County, Mississippi. Deposition taken in London, UK
Includes covering correspondence from Robert Blackwell (research assistant to Hayden S Dent, attorney), 16 May 1997.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/2/5 - Deposition Schalk Willem Burger Lubbe (1996)
Title: Deposition Schalk Willem Burger Lubbe (1996)
Reference code: FLYNN/1/2/5
Date: 1996-1997 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- deposition of Schalk Willem Burger Lubbe (7 + 9 November 1996), in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases, Arrington Lead, Civil Action No 93-9-114, Circuit Court of Jones County, Mississippi. Deposition taken in Cape Town, South Africa
Includes covering correspondence to Richard Meeran, 19 + 20 May 1997.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/1/2/6 - Depositions Dr Ian Webster (1996), Anthony Mendelle (1984), Malcolm George King (1979)
Title: Depositions Dr Ian Webster (1996), Anthony Mendelle (1984), Malcolm George King (1979)
Reference code: FLYNN/1/2/6
Date: 1979-1997 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- deposition of Dr Ian Webster (12 November 1996), in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases, Arrington Lead, Civil Action No 93-9-114, Circuit Court of Jones County, Mississippi. Deposition taken in Johannesburg, South Africa. Webster was senior pathologist at the National Centre for Occupational Health, Johannesburg, South Africa
- deposition of Anthony Mendelle (13 November 1984), in Darlene Smith v. Pittsburgh Corning Corp, PPG Industries Inc., Cape Industries Ltd, Cape Asbestos Fibers Ltd, Cape Boards & Panels Ltd etc., Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mendelle was products manager (1956-1960) and production manager (1960-1968) at Cape Asbestos Company Ltd, Barking, UK
- deposition of Malcom George King (24 September 1979), in [unidentified court case], UK. King had been employed by CSR Ltd, Sydney, a building products company in Australia and New Zealand, since 1933
Includes covering correspondence from Robert Blackwell (research assistant to Hayden S Dent, attorney), 20 May 1997
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Series: FLYNN/2 - Asbestos litigation in North America
Title: Asbestos litigation in North America
Reference code: FLYNN/2
Date: 1934-2005 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Flynn’s investigations of occupational & environmental health issues brought him in close contact with American researchers, among them environmental consultants and, in particular, litigators. An extensive exchange of information and documentation ensued. This turned up unusually rich seams of corporate information on asbestos, made available under rules of discovery and specifically through depositions of key witnesses.
Physical description: 40 folders + 1 volume
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Subseries: FLYNN/2/1 - Film projects
Title: Film projects
Reference code: FLYNN/2/1
Date: 1981-1996 (date of creation)
Physical description: 5 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/1/1 - ‘A small town tragedy’ (1982)
Title: ‘A small town tragedy’ (1982)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/1/1
Date: 1981-1996 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers re and arising from Granada Television’s World in Action (WIA) documentary ‘A small town tragedy’ (1982), investigating the refusal of British company Cape Industries Ltd to pay compensation awarded against them in an American court of law to workers of their North American subsidiary company in Bloomington, Illinois. The transmission of ‘A small town tragedy’ brought Flynn in contact with a number of American tort lawyers.
Includes (in reverse chronological order):
- correspondences with American lawyers, among them Hayden S Dent, and Steven Loble of Oppenheimers, London, 1983-1996
- transcripts of cross-examinations of Anthony John Penna & W R Bernays (14 + 15 March 1988), in Jimmy Wayne Adams et al. v. Cape Industries & Capasco Ltd, High Court of Justice, London
- draft article by Flynn on Cape Industries having found a new and formidable opponent in the US government
- responses to WIA programme ‘A small town tragedy’ (transmitted 5 July 1982): Granada Television internal notes and memoranda re the legality of the programme, press reaction to the programme, Cape complaint to the Independent Broadcasting Authority
- production documents (Flynn’s research notebook, script of the documentary, interview transcripts)
Also includes Flynn’s pitch for a programme (or an article on the history of company awareness of the dangers posed by asbestos), c.1981, and correspondence with Charles Patrick and Ron Motley, 1981, both tort lawyers in South Carolina who sued a subsidiary of international asbestos giant Turner & Newall.
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/1/2 - ‘Caution to the wind’ (1982)
Title: ‘Caution to the wind’ (1982)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/1/2
Date: 1982 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Typescript of Granada Television World in Action documentary ‘Caution to the wind’ (1982).
This investigated the medical impact of atomic tests carried out near St George, Utah, in the early 1950s. Suits were brought against the US government by test-site workers, military servicemen forced to watch the tests, and downwind victims of radiation-caused cancers.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/1/3 - ‘Outrageous misconduct - asbestos as metaphor’ (1988)
Title: ‘Outrageous misconduct - asbestos as metaphor’ (1988)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/1/3
Date: 1988-1989 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Versions of Flynn’s film proposal ‘Outrageous misconduct - asbestos as metaphor’ (1988).
Includes marked photocopies (incomplete set) of Paul Brodeur’s book ‘Outrageous misconduct’ (New York, 1985), to which Flynn’s proposal was paying homage.
The film project proposed to examine the conduct of corporations and their representatives (notably company medics) in suppressing scientific evidence regarding the health hazards of asbestos exposure. At a later stage a version of the project appears to have been promoted under the title ‘You will know us by the trail of death’. See FLYNN/1/1/1.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Subseries: FLYNN/2/2 - Cape & American subsidiaries, in particular the North American Asbestos Corporation (NAAC)
Title: Cape & American subsidiaries, in particular the North American Asbestos Corporation (NAAC)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2
Date: 1934-2005 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Communications and documentation obtained chiefly through contacts with American litigators whose clients included victims of asbestos-related disease. First among these litigators was James Walker of Walker & Wylder, Bloomington, Illinois, whose correspondence and document exchange with Flynn started c.1982.
Cape’s North American subsidiaries included:
- North American Asbestos Corporation (NAAC)
- Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (Unarco)
- PPG Industries Inc.
Physical description: 25 folders + 1 volume
Paper
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/1 - James Walker client list, Hammond v. NAAC, Sumner Simpson papers
Title: James Walker client list, Hammond v. NAAC, Sumner Simpson papers
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/1
Date: 1934-1985 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- “Jim Walker clients” list including Geneva Eileen Mau (widow of William R Mau), Charles A Thacker, Leslie Thacker and Delora Stewart
- letter from James Walker, June 1983, including Illinois Supreme Court’s opinion in Charlotte Hammond v. North American Asbestos Corporation (NAAC), filed 18 May 1983
- set of court papers:
- judgement in Charlotte Hammond v. NAAC (6 May 1982), Appellate Court of Illinois Fourth District
- opinion in Edward MacDaniels v. Carey Canada Inc. (1983), District Court of New Jersey
- memorandum opinion and order in David Brown v. Lac D’Amiante du Quebec Ltee. (1985), District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- order in Virginia Parker v. Bell Asbestos Mines Ltd etc. (1985), District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- order in Elmer H Allen v. PPG Industries Inc. (1983), District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division
- memorandum opinion and order in Jacinto and Gladys Figueroa v. Charter Consolidated plc (1985)
- various pieces by environmental consultant Barry I Castleman, 1978-1985
- annotated copies from Sumner Simpson Papers (”exhibit O”), a set of documents dating from the 1930s and 1940s and discovered during a lawsuit against Raybestos-Manhattan Inc., in 1977. The Sumner Simpson papers offer compelling evidence of the asbestos industry’s efforts to cover up the known hazards of asbestos exposure
- copies of exhibits documenting Unarco and NAAC activitities 1944-1982
- key documents on asbestosis and lung cancer, 1947-1957
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/2 - Bennett v. Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (Unarco) (1940), Hammond v. Cape (1981)
Title: Bennett v. Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (Unarco) (1940), Hammond v. Cape (1981)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/2
Date: 1940-1981 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- set of court papers in the matter of Charlotte Hammond v. Circuit Court of Cook Country et al. (1981), Supreme Court of the State of Illinois; & Charlotte Hammond v. Cape Industries Limited & NAAC (1981), Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, County of McLean, Illinois
- photocopies of medical death certificates issued in Illinois 1978-1981
- photocopies c.1979 of papers from James Bennett’s claim against the Union Asbestos & Rubber Company (Unarco) of Chicago, 1940
- photocopies of correspondence between Unarco and its insurers over occupational disease, 1952-1958
- short publication on asbestos heir Tommy Manville, 1940
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/3 - Cape / NAAC correspondence, 1953-1983 (selection)
Title: Cape / NAAC correspondence, 1953-1983 (selection)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/3
Date: 1953-1983 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- press clippings 1977-1983
- photocopies of North American Asbestos Corporation (NAAC) correspondence and papers 1953-1983, including solicitors correspondence
- (marked) copy of memorandum by Richard K Decker, November 1962, advising on legal interpretation of the relationship between Cape and its subsidiary NAAC viz. whether US courts would be inclined to think they have jurisdiction of Cape, (a) because Cape’s effect on US trade could be shown to be direct and substantial, and (b) because the NAAC as Cape’s agent plays an active part in Cape’s business which “is continuous and could not be easily carried out without NAAC”
Originally contained a (duplicate) copy of the deposition of William S Haines (June 1980), in Charlotte Hammond v. Cape Industries & NAAC, etc. See FLYNN/2/3/4
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/4 - Early disclosures, NAAC
Title: Early disclosures, NAAC
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/4
Date: 1954-1987 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- printouts of information from ‘Egilman disk 3’ (probably added to this file at a later stage, by either Flynn or Tweedale): exhibits from an unidentified asbestos litigation - letters from Lee B Grant, medical director of PPG Industries Inc., 1966-1974 (reacting inter alia to Paul Brodeur’s series of articles in ‘The New Yorker’ on casualties in the workplace, 1973); copy of report ‘Asbestos survey: Pittsburgh-Corning Corporation, Tyler, Texas’ (1971)
- correspondence with James Walker, 1987, with extensive enclosures from NAAC
- letter from James Walker, 1986, with enclosures:
- deposition of Charles G Morgan (18 September 1986), in Geneva Elaine Mau et al. v. Unarco, Inc. et al., Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, McLean County, Illinois
- deposition of Robert Solomon (29 December 1981), in Geneva Elaine Mau et al. v. Unarco, Inc. et al., Circuit Court General Division, McLean County, Illinois
- extensive documentation of NAAC, 1954-1985
Physical description: 4 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/5 - Cape / NAAC correspondence and papers inc. court papers
Title: Cape / NAAC correspondence and papers inc. court papers
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/5
Date: 1954-1987 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Set of exhibits, marked and annotated. Includes:
- civil subpoena of Max E Meyer in Delora Stewart et al. / Geneva Eileen Mau et al., both v. NAAC, 1987
- reponse to request to admit in Delora Stewart et al. v. NAAC (8 January 1987), Circuit Court of the Eleventh Circuit, McLean County, Illinois
- answers to interrogatories in Dorothy Betts et al. v. Unarco Industries et al. (1985), Circuit Court of the Eleventh Circuit, McLean County, Illinois
- Cape Asbestos correspondence 1954-1985, including between Richard Gaze (the company’s chief scientist), company solicitors, additional legal support (Davis, Arnold & Cooper Solicitors, London; Lord Bissell & Brook, Chicago). See also Gaze deposition at FLYNN/2/3/3
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/6 - ‘Bloomington photostats’, 1
Title: ‘Bloomington photostats’, 1
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/6
Date: 1964-1978 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- Cape/subsidiaries correspondence 1964-1972. Source uncertain (no exhibit marks, no covering correspondence)
- instructions from J L Sparks, Group Financial Controller Cape Industries Limited, to Financial Directors/Company Secretaries – all subsidiaries, 1974-1978
Physical description: 4 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/7 - ‘Bloomington photostats’, 2
Title: ‘Bloomington photostats’, 2
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/7
Date: 1962-1985 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- coroner’s report on Edwin W Holland, d. 2 April 1985 (plaintiff’s exhibit)
NAAC correspondence, as follows:
- 1974-1976 (chiefly between Joan Holtze, NAAC, and J L Sparks, Group Financial Controller of Cape Industries Ltd, London)
- 1969-1973 (chiefly from and to Charles G Morgan / Joan Holtze (both NAAC) and representatives of Cape Asbestos in the UK, South Africa and subsidiaries elsewhere)
- 1962-1968: correspondence of Robert E Cryor including minutes of shareholder meetings and meetings of company directors
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/8 - Index of Bloomington NAAC documents
Title: Index of Bloomington NAAC documents
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/8
Date: 1982-1994 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- boxlist of 79 boxes of NAAC documentation plus more detailed inventory (several versions)
- covering letter from Steven Kazan / Daniel D Murphy to James Walker, 2 June 1987, re general summaries and lists of NAAC documents and NAAC sales documents (the latter from 47 reels of microfilm)
- “Mau exhibit list”, presumably relating to suit Geneva Eileen Mau (widow of William R Mau)
- “North American Documents Index”, 10 March 1994, listing all documents x4: by ‘from’, ‘to’, ‘what’, ‘subject’
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/9 - Memorandum in opposition to Charter’s motion to dismiss (1995)
Title: Memorandum in opposition to Charter’s motion to dismiss (1995)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/9
Date: 1995 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- Plaintiff’s memorandum of law (in re asbestos personal injury cases, Arrington Lead No 93-9-114 et al.) in opposition to Charter’s motion to dismiss the second amended complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction, submitted by Hayden S Dent, 6 December 1995, in the Circuit Court of Jones County, Mississippi, Second Judicial District
Argues among other things that at all times Charter and its predecessor Central Mining controlled Cape’s mining operations in South Africa and that therefore the corporate distinction between the two companies should be disregarded and Charter should assume Cape’s contacts with the State of Mississippi. Further, that the Court should disregard the corporate veil between Cape and Charter because Cape had introduced into the marketplace a product which it knew would be dangeous to the end user. Etc.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/10 - Charter statement in support of motion to dismiss (1998)
Title: Charter statement in support of motion to dismiss (1998)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/10
Date: 1998 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Preliminary statement plus exhibits A-E, submitted by Charter plc in support of its motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, in Imogean Phelps v. Abex Corporation et al., Circuit Court County of McLean, Illinois. Date-stamped 30 Oct 1998.
Physical description: 1 volume (soft-bound)
Paper
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/11 - Opinions of the court in asbestos cases 1983-1999
Title: Opinions of the court in asbestos cases 1983-1999
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/11
Date: 1982-1999 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence with James Walker including copies of:
- opinion of Justice McMorrow (filed 21 October 1999), in Delores McLure v. Owens Corning Fiberglass Corporation, Illinois Supreme Court
- Dr Schepers’ response to Dr Case “regarding personal motives, state of the art, and Canadian workers comp[ensation] system”, January 1999
- opinion of the court (filed 11 August 1998), in Delores McLure v. Owens Corning Fiberglass Corporation, Fourth District, Illinois
- opinion of the court (filed 29 May 1998), in Marge Cameron v. Owens Corning Fiberglass Corporation et al., Appellate Court, Illinois
- opinion of the court (filed 23 November 1994), in Samuel Thomas Adcock v. Brakegate Ltd et al., presumably McLean County, Illinois
- opinion of the court (filed 31 March 1988), in Clarence Craig and Duveen A Craig v. Lakes Asbestos of Quebec Ltd et al. v. Charter Consolidated plc et al., US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, reversing district court view that Charter Consolidated plc was liable under New Jersey law for the tort obligations of its subsidiary Cape Industries plc on an alter ego or piercing the corporate veil theory
- court’s findings (12 September 1983), in Elmer Allen et al. v. PPG Industries Inc. et al., District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, following non-appearance of the defendants Cape Industries plc, Capasco Ltd and Egnep Ltd
- opinion of the court (filed 1 July 1983), in Anthony A Barber v. Pittsburgh Corning Corporation et al., appeal of Charter Consolidated Ltd et al., Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- Flynn’s aide memoir re Charter deposition, 15 April 1983
- North American press coverage c.1965 to 1984, inc. copies of ‘Asbestos Litigation Reporter’ 1981 and photocopies of correspondence relating to asbestos industry and/or disease
Some components announced in the inscription (Selikoff 1977 interview, Steve McQueen notes, IHP notes to J Todd) not found. Components ‘Brodeur’ and ‘LF 1982/US notes’ transferred to FLYNN/2/1.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/2/12 - Press coverage, NAAC corporate seal
Title: Press coverage, NAAC corporate seal
Reference code: FLYNN/2/2/12
Date: 2003-2005, n.d. (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- press coverage 2003-2005 including ‘Bloomington woman awarded $5 million in wrongful death asbestos suit’, 2005
- Flynn’s notes on NAAC/Cape, sample of NAAC corporate seal.
Remaining content exactly duplicated material listed at GB 249 FLYNN/2/2/8 and has therefore been removed.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Subseries: FLYNN/2/3 - Depositions
Title: Depositions
Reference code: FLYNN/2/3
Date: 1975-1983 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Depositions from asbestos lawsuits 1975-1983 filed in Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Physical description: 10 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/3/1 - Depositions of Charles G Morgan (1975-1981)
Title: Depositions of Charles G Morgan (1975-1981)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/3/1
Date: 1975-1981 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- deposition of Charles G Morgan (20 May 1975), in Herman Yandle et al. v. PPG Industries Inc. et al., District Court of Eastern Texas
- deposition of Charles G Morgan (27 May 1975), in William J Johnson et al. v. NAAC, Tenth Circuit Court of Illinois, Peoria County
- deposition of Charles G Morgan (31 October 1980), in Anthony A Barber et al. v. Pittsburgh Corning Corporation et al., Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Civil Division
- deposition of Charles G Morgan (20 February 1981), in James R Daisy et al. v. Johns Manville Sales Corporation et al., District Court for the District of New Jersey
Morgan was the former president of the North American Asbestos Corporations (NAAC).
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/3/2 - Depositions of John George Richardson (1983) and John Neill Clarke (1983)
Title: Depositions of John George Richardson (1983) and John Neill Clarke (1983)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/3/2
Date: 1975-1983 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- deposition of John George Richardson (20 April 1983), in Lois J Thacker et al. v. UNR Industries Inc., Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, County of McLean, Illinois
- deposition of John Neill Clarke (21April 1983), in Lois J Thacker et al. v. UNR Industries et al., Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, County of McLean, Illinois
Originally included also a duplicate of deposition Geoffrey Arthur Higham (4 June 1975), in Herman Yandle et al. v. PPG Industries, Inc. et al.; see FLYNN/1/2/1.
John George Richardson held a number of corporate directorships before becoming a director at Charter Consolidated Services c.1971.
J Neill Clarke was partner in a firm of chartered accountants during the 1960s and joined Charter Consolidated Services c.1969.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/3/3 - Depositions of Richard Gaze (1975) and Francis Howard (1983)
Title: Depositions of Richard Gaze (1975) and Francis Howard (1983)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/3/3
Date: 1975-1983 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- correspondence between Stephen A Milwid and Richard Gaze re Pittsburgh Corning litigation, 1977 (part of an exhibit, 1986). See further correspondence at FLYNN/2/2/5
- deposition of Richard Gaze (4 + 5 June 1975), in Herman Yandle et al. v. PPG Industries, Inc. et al., District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Texas
- deposition of Francis Howard (19 April 1983), in Lois Thacker et al. v. UNR Industries, Inc. et al., Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, County of McLean, Illinois
Richard Gaze was the executive director of Cape Industries.
Francis Howard was an accountant. Among others he worked for Anglo American Corporation of South Africa (North America) Ltd, 1968-1970, and for Charter Consolidated Services from 1975.
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/2/3/4 - Depositions of Joan Holtze (1979), William S Haines (1980), Max E Meyer (1981)
Title: Depositions of Joan Holtze (1979), William S Haines (1980), Max E Meyer (1981)
Reference code: FLYNN/2/3/4
Date: 1979-1981 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
- deposition of Joan Holtze (12 April 1979 ), in Geraldine Ellenburg v. NAAC et al., Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, County of McLean, Illinois
- deposition William S Haines (8 May 1980), in Charlotte Hammond vs Cape Industries & NAAC; and Delora Stewart v. EGNEP et al., Circuit Court of McLean County, Illinois, General Division
- deposition of Max E Meyer (24 March 1981), in Anthony A Barber et al. v. Pittsburgh Corning et al., Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Joan Holtze was the secretary and assistant treasurer at the North American Asbestos Corporation.
William S Haines was a former chairman of Safety & Claims Services Inc., which did work for Union Asbestos & Rubber Company.
Max E Meyer was a lawyer employed by Lord, Bissell & Brook, who represented Cape Asbestos.
Physical description: 3 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Series: FLYNN/3 - Asbestos in the United Kingdom
Title: Asbestos in the United Kingdom
Reference code: FLYNN/3
Date: 1953-2005 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
During his period as an industrial journalist for the ‘Socialist Worker’, 1972-1978, Flynn worked closely with activists from the Glasgow branch of the Transport and General Workers Union and with Tom Woolf and John Pickering, both of them W H Thomson solicitors covering lawsuits against Central Asbestos in Bermondsey, London, and Acre Mill in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire (the latter not much documented here).
Physical description: 4 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Some contents are restricted.
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/3/1 - Glasgow laggers
Title: Glasgow laggers
Reference code: FLYNN/3/1
Date: 1967-2005 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
In reverse chronological order:
- copy of email, informing Geoffrey Tweedale of John Todd’s death in 2004. In the 1970s, Todd had been a prominent representative of the Glasgow branch of the Transport and General Workers Union
- papers and correspondence 1974-1978. Includes copies of correspondence between Todd and the Health & Safety Executive, as well as of the certificate for the asbestosis-related death of Angus Cairns, insulating engineer, November 1975
- copy of Flynn’s ‘Asbestos murders’ (1974), a series of articles in The Socialist Worker indicting the Scottish lagging industry
- copy of the pamphlet version of ‘Asbestos murders’, published as ‘Asbestos: the dust that kills in the name of profit’ (London, 1974)
- Flynn’s background research for ‘Asbestos murders’: lists of “certified dead from asbestosis” and “certified receiving pension”; transcripts of Flynn’s conversations with Glasgow laggers and their union representatives; some correspondence, typescript notes of a meeting with laggers Arthur Rhodie, Jim Gegathy and John Todd, 14 November 1973
- papers including press coverage 1967-1974
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/3/2 - Lawsuit against Central Asbestos Company Ltd
Title: Lawsuit against Central Asbestos Company Ltd
Reference code: FLYNN/3/2
Date: 1953-1974 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Bermondsey based factory Central Asbestos Company Ltd was sued by 7 former workers who had contracted asbestosis. In July 1970, the High Court found in favour of the plaintiffs, concluding that Central Asbestos had breached the Asbestos Industry Regulations of 1931. Damages awarded totalled £86,469. Flynn covered the trial and subsequently followed up the matter, including with HM Inspectorate.
The 7 plaintiffs were Robert Frederick Smith, Francis John McCourt, Ronald Francis Drake, Walter Dodd, Donald Derrick Roof, Edward Edwin Raper and James Sampson.
Includes:
- Flynn’s notebook on the trial, Smith et al. v. Central Asbestos Company Ltd
- Flynn’s correspondence with Brian Harvey, HM Chief Inspector of Factories; also his notes of an interview with retired factories inspector Miss Alice Crossthwaite
- press coverage 1970-1974
- photocopies of HM Inspectorate correspondence 1953-1967
- copy of Lord’s opinions on the appeal of Central Asbestos Company Ltd v. Dodd, June 1972 (appeal dismissed by 3:2)
- notes of evidence taken at the inquest of another former Central Asbestos worker, Frederick Robert Gibbins, 1972, and photocopy of medical file Edward Edwin Raper
- photocopy of judgement Smith et al. v. Central Asbestos Company Ltd
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Some contents restricted in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 199 and for posthumous medical confidentiality.
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/3/3 - Notes on asbestos in the UK
Title: Notes on asbestos in the UK
Reference code: FLYNN/3/3
Date: c.1970-1984 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and papers, Flynn’s drafts and manuscript notes c.1970-mid-1980s. Includes:
- draft article on the background of George VI’s lung cancer
- draft article for Socialist Worker c.1978, on the findings of the Advisory Committee on Asbestos (Simpson Committee), whose final report appeared in October 1979
- correspondence re Dr S Roodhouse Goyne, author of the first report on asbestosis ever in the UK
- Flynn’s notes on the Asbestos Industry Regulations of 1931
- Flynn’s notes on asbestos and railway workers
- list of key experts on asbestosis and related disease
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/3/4 - Asbestos still kills, 2001
Title: Asbestos still kills, 2001
Reference code: FLYNN/3/4
Date: 1999-2001 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Correspondence and press reports re the continuing threat posed by asbestos around the globe. Contains:
- draft presentation (typescript with Flynn’s manuscript annotations) on South Africa’s mining industry, possibly given at the Joint Hazards Campaign / TUC Asbestos Conference ‘Asbestos still kills’, April 2001, London
- correspondence including with international solicitors, expert witnesses (among them Barry I Castleman) and asbestos ban campaigners, re the plight of asbestos victims, the impact of the liquidation of assets of Chester Street Insurance Holdings Ltd, etc. Also includes correspondence re expert witness Richard Doll, author of ‘Mortality from lung cancer in asbestos workers’ (1955), and re plans for Doll’s personal archive
- press cuttings re asbestos compensation litigation, the legacy of asbestos in the UK and South Africa, Geoffrey Tweedale’s new book (with Richard Hansen), ‘Magic mineral to killer dust: Turner & Newall and the asbestos hazard’ (2000), medical provisions in South Africa
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Series: FLYNN/4 - Cape Asbestos corporate papers
Title: Cape Asbestos corporate papers
Reference code: FLYNN/4
Date: 1893-2000 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
A key focus of Flynn’s asbestos-related investigations were the activities of Cape Industries Ltd, registered in December 1893 as Cape Asbestos Company Ltd (name changed in 1974). The series listed here includes early registration documents, Cape Industries annual reports from 1974, as well as a run of the companies’ house journal ‘CAC Magazine’, 1951-1963. For further business papers of Cape Industries, see also FLYNN 2/2.
Physical description: 13 folders
Paper and microfiche
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/4/1 - Company registration and other company papers
Title: Company registration and other company papers
Reference code: FLYNN/4/1
Date: 1893-1996 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Microfiches of company registration documents.
Also photocopies of the following:
- successive versions of Memorandum and Articles of Association, Cape Asbestos Company Ltd / Cape Industries Ltd
- Memorandum and Articles of Association, Cape Industries Overseas Ltd
- particulars of Directors and Secretaries, notifications of changes
- certificates of incorporation
- diverse company registration papers 1975-1980
- Register of Mortgages and Charges, etc. Company Search Report 1996
Physical description: 2 folders
Paper and microfiche
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/4/2 - Cape Industries annual reports 1974-2000
Title: Cape Industries annual reports 1974-2000
Reference code: FLYNN/4/2
Date: 1974-2000 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Annotated copies (photocopies and/or originals) of Cape Industries / Cape plc annual reports and accounts 1974-2000, incomplete set (1984, 1997 and 1999 missing).
1976-1986: includes also reviews.
There also is an original Charter Consolidated annual report 1981.
Physical description: 7 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/4/3 - ‘Cape Asbestos Company Magazine’
Title: ‘Cape Asbestos Company Magazine’
Reference code: FLYNN/4/3
Date: 1951-1963 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Photocopies of ‘Cape Asbestos Company Magazine’ (the house journal of Cape Asbestos Company Ltd), December 1951 to Autumn 1963.
Contains occasional post-it markers by either Flynn or Tweedale.
Physical description: 4 folders
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published
Item: FLYNN/5 - Index of Flynn’s files on Cape Industries
Title: Index of Flynn’s files on Cape Industries
Reference code: FLYNN/5
Date: c. 2004 (date of creation)
Scope and content:
Flynn’s listing of his personal papers on Cape Industries.
Physical description: 1 folder
Paper
Language of the material:
English
Restrictions on access:
Open
Publication status:
published