Johns-Manville Corporation: Asbestos Products, Occupational Exposure, and the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust

Johns-Manville Corporation stands as one of the most extensively documented asbestos product manufacturers in American industrial history. For more than a century, the company produced and sold asbestos-containing materials that were installed across virtually every category of American construction and industry — from shipyards and power plants to schools, office buildings, and residential housing. Internal documents produced during decades of litigation confirmed that Johns-Manville’s own executives were aware of the health hazards associated with asbestos exposure as early as the 1930s, yet the company continued manufacturing and marketing asbestos-containing products until 1982. Workers, their families, and attorneys researching occupational asbestos exposure will find Johns-Manville products documented at an extraordinarily wide range of American job sites during the four decades spanning roughly 1940 to 1982.

Company History

Johns-Manville was founded in 1858 and grew steadily throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries into one of the largest building materials companies in the United States. Headquartered originally in New York City and later in Denver, Colorado, the company operated mines, manufacturing plants, and distribution networks that made its products ubiquitous on American construction sites and in industrial facilities.

By the mid-twentieth century, Johns-Manville was the dominant domestic supplier of asbestos-containing insulation, cement products, roofing materials, and fireproofing compounds. The company supplied products to the United States Navy and private shipbuilders during World War II, to the postwar construction boom that built millions of homes and commercial structures, and to the power generation and petrochemical industries that expanded rapidly through the 1960s and 1970s.

Internal company correspondence and memoranda — obtained through discovery in asbestos litigation beginning in the 1970s — revealed that Johns-Manville executives had access to medical studies linking asbestos dust inhalation to pulmonary disease decades before any public warnings were issued. These documents became central to the wave of personal injury lawsuits that ultimately overwhelmed the company’s ability to continue operating. On August 26, 1982, Johns-Manville Corporation filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. At the time, it represented the largest asbestos-related bankruptcy in American history, a direct consequence of the tens of thousands of personal injury claims the company faced.

Asbestos-Containing Products

Johns-Manville manufactured asbestos-containing products across multiple categories throughout its decades of operation. The following products are among those most extensively documented in occupational exposure claims and litigation records.

Kaylo Pipe Insulation

Kaylo was a calcium silicate pipe and block insulation product that Johns-Manville manufactured and sold for use on high-temperature piping systems in industrial and marine settings. Kaylo contained chrysotile asbestos as a reinforcing component. The product was applied extensively in power plants, refineries, chemical plants, and aboard Navy vessels. Pipefitters, insulators, and maintenance workers who cut, fitted, and removed Kaylo insulation generated substantial airborne asbestos dust. Johns-Manville sold Kaylo under its own brand name and also supplied the product for distribution through industrial insulation contractors.

Asbestospray Spray Fireproofing

Asbestospray was a spray-applied fireproofing compound used to coat structural steel beams and decking in commercial and institutional construction beginning in the 1950s. The product contained significant percentages of asbestos fiber. Ironworkers, fireproofing applicators, and subsequent tradespeople — including electricians, pipefitters, and sheet metal workers — who performed work in the vicinity of spray fireproofing operations or disturbed dried Asbestospray material during renovation or demolition were exposed to airborne asbestos fibers. Asbestospray was widely used in high-rise construction and in facilities such as hospitals and schools built during the 1950s and 1960s.

Transite Cement Pipe and Board

Transite was a brand name applied to a family of asbestos-cement composite products that Johns-Manville produced in large volumes for decades. Transite pipe was used in water distribution systems, drainage systems, and industrial applications. Transite board and flat sheet materials were used as construction panels, laboratory countertops, electrical panels, and industrial partitions. The cement matrix of Transite products contained chrysotile asbestos in concentrations documented in product specifications. Cutting, drilling, grinding, or breaking Transite products released asbestos fibers. Plumbers, construction laborers, and facilities maintenance workers frequently encountered Transite products.

Colorbestos Floor Tile

Colorbestos was a vinyl-asbestos floor tile manufactured by Johns-Manville for commercial and residential installation. Like other vinyl-asbestos floor tiles of the period, Colorbestos contained chrysotile asbestos in the tile body. The product was installed in schools, hospitals, office buildings, and homes throughout the postwar construction era. Asbestos fibers can be released during installation — particularly during cutting and scoring — and during subsequent renovation, sanding, or removal of aged and deteriorated tile.

Asbestos Roofing Shingles and Felt

Johns-Manville produced asbestos-reinforced roofing shingles and asbestos felt underlayment for use in residential and commercial roofing. These products contained chrysotile asbestos integrated into the shingle body or felt matrix. Roofers who cut, broke, and handled these materials were exposed to asbestos fibers during installation. Workers involved in re-roofing projects — which required removal of existing Johns-Manville asbestos shingles — faced additional exposure, as aged and weathered roofing materials can release fibers when disturbed.

Occupational Exposure

The breadth of Johns-Manville’s product line means that occupational exposure to its asbestos-containing materials occurred across an exceptionally wide range of trades and industries. Workers with documented or alleged exposure to Johns-Manville products include:

  • Insulators and pipefitters who worked with Kaylo insulation in industrial and marine environments
  • Ironworkers, construction laborers, and finishing tradespeople present during Asbestospray fireproofing application or subsequent building renovation
  • Plumbers and pipe layers who cut and joined Transite cement pipe in utility and construction applications
  • Floor tile installers and building maintenance workers who cut, removed, or sanded Colorbestos tile
  • Roofers and sheet metal workers who installed or removed Johns-Manville asbestos roofing products
  • Shipyard workers who applied or removed Johns-Manville insulation and fireproofing products aboard Navy and commercial vessels

Secondary exposure — sometimes called household or take-home exposure — has also been documented among family members of workers who carried asbestos fibers home on their clothing, skin, and hair. Mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung disease diagnoses have occurred in individuals with no direct occupational exposure but with a family history of working with Johns-Manville products.

Exposure risk was heightened by the physical demands of working with these materials. Dry-cutting Transite pipe, tearing out Kaylo block insulation, and disturbing aged Asbestospray fireproofing all generate respirable asbestos fiber concentrations that were not controlled by adequate protective equipment or industrial hygiene programs on most job sites of the era.

The Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust

Johns-Manville’s 1982 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing was resolved through a reorganization plan that established the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust in 1988, created under Section 524(g) of the United States Bankruptcy Code. The Manville Trust is one of the oldest and largest asbestos personal injury trusts in existence and continues to process and pay claims.

The Manville Trust was created to serve as the exclusive vehicle for compensating individuals harmed by exposure to Johns-Manville asbestos-containing products. The company’s personal injury liability was channeled to the Trust, and Johns-Manville itself (later reorganized as Schuller Corporation and subsequently acquired by Berkshire Hathaway as part of Johns Manville) was released from direct personal injury liability for asbestos claims.

Filing a Claim with the Manville Trust

To file a claim with the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, a claimant generally must demonstrate:

  1. Exposure to a Johns-Manville asbestos-containing product — Claimants typically support this through work history affidavits, co-worker testimony, union records, employer records, or other documentation establishing product contact.
  2. A qualifying asbestos-related disease — The Trust recognizes a range of disease categories, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, other cancers, asbestosis, and other non-malignant conditions. Each disease category carries different claim values and processing requirements under the Trust’s payment procedures.
  3. A timely filing — Claims must be filed within applicable statutes of limitations, which vary by state and disease type.

The Manville Trust publishes claim payment procedures and disease-specific valuation schedules. Claims may be submitted as individual review claims, which are evaluated on specific evidence and may yield higher individual payments, or through expedited review procedures that offer predetermined payment amounts.

Summary: What Exposed Workers and Families Should Know

If you or a family member worked with or around Johns-Manville products — including Kaylo insulation, Transite pipe, Asbestospray fireproofing, Colorbestos floor tile, or Johns-Manville roofing materials — and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, you may be eligible to file a claim with the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust.

The Trust has paid billions of dollars in claims since 1988 and remains active. Claims can be filed independently of any lawsuit, and many individuals pursue Trust claims alongside litigation against other parties whose products also contributed to their exposure. An asbestos attorney can evaluate your work history, identify all applicable trusts and defendants, and file claims on your behalf at no upfront cost under contingency fee arrangements standard in asbestos cases.

Because asbestos-related diseases frequently have latency periods of 20 to 50 years, many workers are only now receiving diagnoses for exposures that occurred on job sites decades ago. Early consultation with an attorney experienced in asbestos trust claims is advisable, as statutes of limitations begin running from the date of diagnosis or the date a claimant reasonably knew or should have known of the asbestos-related nature of the disease.