Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "75727058",
    "label": "Copies of Court Documents, May 17, 1932",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75727058"
}

{
    "id": "75727058",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75727058",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Copies of Court Documents, May 17, 1932",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75727058",
    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0002642_Page_1.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0002642_Page_1.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0002642_Page_1.jpg",
    "imageCount": 9,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75727058",
    "naId": 75727058,
    "levelOfDescription": "fileUnit",
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 9,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0002642.pdf",
    "mediaId": "0e8c0acf80831747",
    "ocrText": "District Court of the United States of America\n3\nDISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY\nTHE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\nTO\nUNITED STATES RADIUM CORPORATION, a Corporation\nof the State of Deleware\nDefendant\nYOU ARE SUMMONED to answer the annexed complaint of\nVINCENT P. LA PORTE, Administrator Ad Prosequendum of\nIRENE F. LA PORTE, deceased, and VINCENT P. LA PORTE,\nIndividually\nPlaintiffs\nin an action at law in the District Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey. And take\nnotice that unless you file your answer to said complaint with the Clerk of the District Court of the\nUnited States, for the District of New Jersey, at Trenton, within twenty days after service upon you of\nthis writ and the annexed complaint, the plaintiff may proceed in the suit and judgment may be entered\nagainst you.\nWILLIAM CLARK\nWITNESS the Honorable Judge of said Court,\nXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX WILLIAM VERINYON\nat Trenton, this\n17th\nday of\nMay\nA. D. ninteen hundred and Thirty two.\n(L.s.)\nGeorge J. Camminer Clerk.\nBy Chas Jackel Deputy.\n9253\nUNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT\nDISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.\nVINCENT P. LA PORTE,\n)\nAdministrator Ad Prosequen-\ndum of IRENE F. LA PORTE,\n)\ndeceased, and VINCENT P.\nLA PORTE, individually,\n)\n)\nPlaintiffs,\n- COMPLAINT -\n)\n-vs-\n)\nUNITED STATES RADIUM\nCORPORATION, a corporation\n)\nof the State of Delaware,\n)\nDefendant.\n)\nThe plaintiff Vincent P. La Porte, administrator\nAd Prosequendum of Irene F. La Porte, deceased, residing in\nthe City of Newark, County of Essex and State of New Jersey,\nsays that:\nFIRST COUNT\n1. The plaintiff is a resident and citizen of the\nCity of Newark, County of Essex and State of New Jersey.\n2. The defendant is a corporation of the State of\nDelaware.\n3. The amount in controversy herein exceeds the\nsum of $3,000.00 exclusive of interest and costs.\n4. The plaintiff is the duly qualified and acting\nadministrator ad prosequendum of Irene F. La Porte, deceased.\n5. Prior to and during the year 1917, the defendant\nwas engaged in the manufacture and sale of various commodities,\nand particularly in the production of luminous dials for watches\nand clocks.\n6. The defendant, for the purpose of rendering\nthese various commodities luminous and visible in the dark,\nadopted and used a process which consisted in part in the\napplication of materials consisting in part of one or more of\nthe following substances:- - radium, mesothorium and thorium-x.\n7. Each of the aforesaid substances, whether used\nalone or in any combination, is inherently highly dangerous and\ninjurious to human health and human tissues when brought into\nclose proximity with the human body, and was in fact highly\ndangerous and injurious as aforesaid as used by the defendant\nbecause of the comparitively large quantity of each of the\nsaid substances employed in carrying on its business.\n8. The defendant employed the decedent in the year\n1917, in the ordinary course of its business, to work at the\npainting of dials for timepieces with compounds consisting in\npart of some or all of the substances hereinabove mentioned at\na place which it maintained at 391 Fourth Avenue, Newark, New\nJersey, such employment having continued in the year 1917 for a\nperiod of ten months.\n9. The defendant, knowing well the dangerous\nnature of the substances hereinabove mentioned, and having em-\nployed the said substances for many years prior to 1917 in\ncarrying on its business, negligently and carelessly failed to\nkeep the same in control and permitted them to escape and come\ninto close proximity with the person of the decedent while the\nlatter was engaged in the duties assigned to her by the defend-\nant, and negligently and carelessly supplied the decedent with\ninadequate and unsafe tools and appliances and general working\nconditions for the carrying on of her labors, and negligently\nand carelessly omitted and failed to supply the decedent with\nsafe and adequate tools and appliances and working conditions\nfor carrying on her work, and negligently and carelessly failed\nto warn her or apprise her of the dangerous nature of the\nmaterials with which she was working and of the unusual risks\nattending her employment, of all of which she was wholly ig-\nnorant, and negligently and carelessly otherwise used and em-\n-2-\nployed the substances hereinabove mentioned in and about its\nplace of business.\n10. As the proximate result of the said negligence\nand carelessness, the substances hereinabove mentioned escaped,\nand thereby and by other means came into close proximity and\ncontact with the person of the decedent who was exposed to the\nnatural and inherent effects of the said substances, and there-\nby the same became lodged in and about her body and the tissues\nthereof.\n11. The nature of the several substances introduced\ninto the body of the plaintiff's decedent is such that they\ncontinue to remain potent and active for many years and pro-\nduce by their inherent natural properties destructive effects\nupon human bones, tissues and other portions of the body, of\nwhich the defendant was, in 1917, charged with knowledge.\n12. In or about the month of October, 1930, the\nfact of and the effect of the introduction of the aforesaid\nsubstances into the body of the decedent made itself apparent\nand the said substances continued thereafter to gradually de-\nstroy and break down the component partsof the body of the de-\ncedent, and among other results, produced a sarcoma of the hip\nand thigh.\n13. As the direct and proximate result of the matters\nhereinabove stated, the said Irene F. La Porte died on June\n16, 1931.\n14. The said decedent left her surviving as her heirs\nand next of kin, her husband, Vincent P. La Porte, who is the\nplaintiff herein, her mother, Katherine Corby, a brother, John\nCorby, and a sister, Marion Freedman, all of whom have suffered\npecuniary loss by reason of the death of plaintiff's decedent.\n-3-\n15. This action is brought within two years\nrs next\nafter the death of plaintiff's decedent.\nJUDGMENT will be claimed on the First Count in\nfavor of the plaintiff and against the defendant in the sum of\nOne Hundred Thousand ($100,000.00) Dollars together with costs\nof this suit to be taxed.\nSECOND COUNT\n1. Plaintiff repeats the allegations contained\nin paragraphs 1 to 11 inclusive, of the First Count.\n2. By reason ofethe negligent manner in which\nthe defendant conducted and carried on its business as herein-\nabove particularly described and by reason of the general manner\nin which it carried on continuously the business above referred\nto, the defendant did in fact thereby create and maintain a\nnuisance, from which the decedent received a direct and special\ninjury by reason of the proximate and natural effect of said\nnuisance innintroducing into the body of the said decedent the\nsubstances hereinabove referred to and in causing them to come\nin dangerous and close proximity and contact with the body of\nthe decedent.\n3. Plaintiff repeats the allegations contained\nin paragraphs 12 to 15 inclusive, of the First Count.\nJUDGMENT will be claimed on the Second Count in\nfavor of the plaintiff and against the defendant in the sum of\nOne Hundred Tyousand ($100,000.00) Dollars together with costs\nof this suit to be taxed.\nThe plaintiff Vincent P. La Porte, residing in\nthe City of Newark, County of Essex and State of New Jersey,\nsays that:\n-4-\nFIRST COUNT\n1. The plaintiff repeats the allegations contained\nin paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of the First Count of Vincent P. La\nPorte, as administrator ad prosequendum.\n2. The plaintiff was the husband of Irene F. La Porte,\nwho died on June 16, 1931, and cohabited with her as husband\nand wife since the marriage of the plaintiff and the said\nIrene F. La Porte in 1921.\n3. The plaintiff repeats the allegations contained\nin paragraphs 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the First Count\nof Vincent P. La Porte, as administrator ad prosequendum.\n4. By reason of the premises, the plaintiffwas\nrequired to expend and become indebted for large sums of money\nfor medical treatment of the decedent during her lifetime and\nfor appliances and medication used in connection with such\ntreatment, and was obliged to expend large sums of money for\nthe performance of household services which ordinarily had,\nand would have been performed by the decedent, and which during\nher lifetime the said decedent was unable to perform by reason\nof her illness, and proximately sustained other pecuniary losses,\nand the plaintiff was deprived of the comfort, aid, affection\nand assistance of his said wife during her lifetime commaning\nwith October, 1930.\nJUDGMENT will be claimed on this Count in favor\nof the plaintiff, Vincent P. La Porte, and against the defendant\nin the sum of Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollars together\nwith costs of this suit to be taxed.\nSECOND COUNT\n1. The plaintiff repeats the allegations contained\nin paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of the First Count of Vincent P. La\nPorte, as administrator ad prosequendum.\n-5-\n2. The plaintiff repeats the allegations con-\ntained in paragraph 2 of the First Count of Vincent P. La porte.\n3. The plaintiff repeats the allegations con-\ntained in paragraphs 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the First\nCount of Vincent P. La Porte, as administrator ad prosequendum.\n4. The plaintiff repeats the allegations con-\ntained in paragraph 2 of the Second Count of Vincent P. La Porte,\nas administrator ad prosequendum.\n5. The plaintiff repeats the allegations con-\ntained in paragraph 4 of the First Count of Vincent P. La Porte.\nJUDGMENT will be claimed on this Count in favor\nof the plaintiff, Vincent P. La Porte, and against the defendant,\nin the sum of Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollars together with\ncosts of this suit to be taxed.\nmilton M.lmgu\nATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFFS.\nLAW 3110\nUNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT\nDISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.\nVINCENT P. LA PORTE, Admin-\nistrator Ad Prosequendum of\nTHE CORPORATION\nIRENE F. LA PORTE, deceased,\nTRUST COMPANY\nand VINCENT P. LA PORTE, in-\ndividually,\nMAY 19'32\nPlaintiffs,\nJERSEY CITY\n-vs-\nUNITED STATES RADIUM\nserved\nCORPORATION, a corporation\nof the State of delaware,\nDefendant.\nne\nat\nSUMMONS AND\nCOMPLAINT\nMILTON M. UNGER,\nE\nJuney\nAttorney for Plaintiffs,\n11 Commerce St., Newark, N. J.\nmidsr.\""
}