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{
    "localId": "75727764",
    "label": "Deposition, March 24, 1934",
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{
    "id": "75727764",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Deposition, March 24, 1934",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75727764",
    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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{
    "seq": 9,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "LUCY M. SULLIVAN,\n)\nUNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT.\nPlaintiff,\n)\nDISTRICT OF NEW Jersey.\nvs\n)\nUNITED STATES RADIUM\n)\nCORPORATION, a corpora-\ntion of the State of\n)\nACTION AT LAW.\nDelaware,\n)\nCONPLAINT.\nDefendant,\n)\nThe plaintiff, Lucy M. Sullivan, residing at West Orenge,\nNew Jersey, complaining of the defendant, says that:\n1. The plaintiff is a citizen and resident of the Town of\nRest Orange, County of Essex and State of New Jersey.\n2. The defendant is a corporation of the State of Delaware\nand a citizen thereof.\n3. The defendant employed the plaintiff in the year 1917,\nin the ordinary course of its business, to work at its plant in Orange, New\nJersey, and she continued to work for the defendent for B period of about\ntwo and a half years painting the luminous dials on timepieces with liquid\ncompounds consisting in part of one or more of the following substances,\nredium, mesothorium and radium-x, and better known as radium paint.\n4. The said defendant, by its agents and servents, in-\nstructed the plaintiff in the manner and method of the use of the said com-\npounds and in the manner and use and the handling of brushes for the purpose\nof painting the soid compounds on the dials of timepieces. The defendant, by\nits agents and servants, instructed the plaintiff and informed her that the\nsafe and proper method of shaping the small brushes used to apply the said\nliquid compounds was to form or fashion the hair of the said brushes by\ncurling them in the mouth of the operator and particularly the mouth of the\nplaintiff and curling them around her tongue.\n5. It then and there became and was the duty of the said\ndefendant to use reasonable care to furnish a reasonably safe place for the\nplaintiff to work; and to use reasonable care to furnish reasonably safe and\nadequate tools and appliances and to instruct the plaintiff in a reasonably\nsafe and proper method of handling the said liquid compounds and the handling\nand forming & the brushes used to apply the said liquid compounds to the dials\nof timepieces.\n6. The defendant, knowing well the dangerous nature of the\nliquid compounds herinbefore mentioned, and having employed the said sub-\nstances for many years prior to 1917 in carrying on its business, negligently\nand carelessly supplied the plaintiff with inadequate and unsafe tools and\nappliances and general working conditions for the carrying on of the duties\nassigned to her by the defendant, and negligently end carelessly omitted and\nfailed to supply the plaintiff with safe and adequate tools and appliances\nand working conditions for carrying on her work, and negligently and care-\nlessly failed to use reasonable care to warn the plaintiff of the dangerous\nnature of the materials with which she was working and of the unusual risks\nattending her employment, of all of which she was wholly ignorant, and\nnegligently and carelessly permitted the said dangerous substances and com-\npounds to be in and about the place where the plaintiff was working, and where\nshe was obliged to come into contact with the same, so that the poison there-\nfrom would enter her system, be conveyed to the bones and other parts of her\nbody, causing her great injury, temporary and permanent disability, pain end\nsuffering.\n7. As the proximate result of the said megligence and care-\nlessness, the substances, hereinabove mentioned, escaped and thereby and by\nother means came into close proximity and contact with the person of the\nplaintiff who was exposed to the natural and inherent effects of the said\nsubstances, and thereby the same became lodged in and about her body and the\ntissues thereof.\n8. The nature of the several substances introduced into the\nplaintiff's body is such that they continue to remain potent and active for\nmany years and produce, by their inherent natural properties, destructive\neffects upon human bones, tissues and other portions of the body.\n9. In or about the month of February, 1933, the fact of\nthe introduction of the aforesaid substances into the body of the plaintiff\nmade itself apparent, although she had prior to this time suffered from the\neffects thereof, and the said substances still continue to gradually destroy\nand break down the component parts of the body of the plaintiff.\n10. By means of and as a direct and proximate result of\nthe carelessness and negligence of the defendant, as aforessid, the plaintiff,\nLucy M. Sullivan, was rendered sick, sore, lane and disordered and will in\nthe future be sick, sore, lame and disordered and her general health was in-\npaired and in the future will continue to be impaired, and she suffered great\npain and inconvenience and will in the future suffer great pain and incon-\nvenience and she sustained serious and permanent injuries to her head, body\nand limbs, all of which is to her damage.\n11. This cause of action arose within two years of the\nfiling of this suit and the commencement of this action.\n12. The amount involved exceeds the sum of Three Thousand\nDollars ($5,000.00), exclusive of interest and costs.\nDamages will be claimed by the plaintiff against the\ndefendant under this count in the enam of One Hundred Thousand Dollars\n($100,000.00), together with costs of this suit to be taxed.\nSECOND COUNT\n1. The plaintiff repeats the allegations of the First Count\nand makes them & part hereof.\n2. By means of and as a direct result of the negligence and\ncarelessness of the defendant, as aforesaid, and the ensuing injuries sus-\ntained, the plaintiff has been and will be obliged to spend large sums of\nmoney for medicines and medical attention, surgeons and surgical attendance,\ndentists, nurses, hospitals, care and attention for herself.\n3. By means of and 88 & direct result of the negligence and\ncarelessness of the defendant, 88 aforesaid, and the ensuing injuries sus-\ntained, the plaintiff was disabled from following her usual occupation and her\nearning power was impaired and will in the future be impaired, and she will be\ndeprived of future earnings.\nDamages will be claimed under this court in the sum of\nTen Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), together with costs of this suit to be\ntaxed.\nTHIRD COUNT\n1. Plaintiff repeats the allegations contained in\nparagraph one to paragraph eight, inclusive, of the First Count, and makes\nthem E part hereof.\n2. By reason of the negligent and careless manner in which\nthe defendant conducted and carried on its business as hereinabove particular-\nly described and by reason of the general manner in which it carried on con-\ntinuously the business above referred to, the defendent did in fact thereby\ncreate and maintain a nuisance, from which the plaintiff received a direct\nand special injury by reason of the proximate and natural effect of said\nnuisance in introducing into the body of the said plaintiff the substances\nhereinabove referred to and in causing them to come in dangerous and close\nproximity and contact with the body of the plaintiff.\n3. Plaintiff repeats the allegations of paragraphs nine,\nten and twelve of the First Count and makes them a part hereof.\nDamages will be claimed under this count in the sum of One\nHundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00), together with costs of this suit to\nbe texed.\nFOURTH COUNT\n1. The plaintiff repeats all the allegations of the Third\nCount and makes them a part hereof.\n2. By means of and as a direct result of the nuisence,\ncreated and maintained by the defendant, as aforessid, and the ensuing in-\njuries sustained, the plaintiff has been and will be obliged to spend large\nsums of money for medicines and medical attendance, surgeons and surgical\nattendance, dentists, nurses, hospitals, care and attention for herself.\n3. By means of and 0.8 a direct result of the nuisance\ncreated and maintained by the defendent, 88 aforessid, and the ensuing in-\njuries sustained, the plaintiff was disabled from following her usual\noccupation and her earning power WGB impaired and will in the future be im-\npaired, and she will be deprived of future earnings.\nDamages will be claimed under this count in the sum of Ten\nThousand Dollars ($10,000.00), together with costsof this suit to be taxed.\nFIFTH COUNT\n1. The plaintiff repeats the allegations of paragraphs one,\ntwo, three, four, five and six of the first count and makes them a part hereof.\n2. In or about the month of October, nineteen hundred and\nseventeen, the defendant fraudulently and craftily and intending to cheat and\ndefraud and injure the plaintiff, induced her by promises and subterfuges to\nenter upon the work of using liquid compounds consisting in part of one or more\nof the following substances:- radium, mesothorium and thorium- for the paint-\ning of luminous dials on watches. The defendant well knowing that the use of\nthe said liquid compounds was dangerous to the users thereof, pretended to the\nplaintiff that the use of the same was safe and free from herm and would not\nthereafter injuriously affect the plaintiff. The plaintiff relied on such\nrepresentation.\n3. In the month of February, nineteen hundred and thirty\nthree, and at other times thereafter, the plaintiff for the first time dis-\ncovered the froud and deceit that had been practised upon her by the\ndefendant.\n4. This fraud and deceit of the defendant was practised upon\nthe plaintiff for gain and profit and reward received by the defendent in that\nthereby the defendant was able to and did employ the plaintiff at a dangerous\noccupation, attendant with injury to her health, which occupation the plain-\ntiff would not have accepted if the defendant had conveyed to her its know-\nledge of the dangerous and poisonous effects upon her of the said radium\nliquid and redium powder which was bound to and which did enter the system of\nthe plaintiff while so performing the said work; and the said defendant did\nthereby and was enabled to employ the plaintiff and other employees at a lower\nwage than would have been consistent with the denger that attended the said\nemployment. And the said defendent was able to and thereby did save large\nsums of money that it would have been obliged to spend for the making and per-\nforming of the said work with proper appliances and equipment SO that the\nsaid work would have been reasonably safe for the plaintiff and other 621-\nployees of the defendant. By reason of the said fraud and deceit 80\npractised by the defendant upon the plaintiff and other employees, the de-\nfendant reaped great profits and the saving of large sums of money.\n5. By and through the frsud and deceit of the defendent\nand unknown to the plaintiff, large quantities of the said liquid radium com-\npounds were abosrbed into the system and body of the plaintiff causing the\ndestruction of the bones of her body and other parts of her body.\n6. By reason of the fraud and deceit of the defendent, and\nas a direct result of the radium compounds which were absorbed and taken into\nthe system of the plaintiff while so in the employ of the defendant as afore-\nsaid, the plaintiff was rendered sick, sore, lame and disordered and will in\nthe future be sick, sore, lame and disordered, and her general health was in-\npaired and in the future will continue to be impaired, and she suffered great\npain end inconvenience and will in the future suffer great pain and incon-\nvenience and she sustained serious and permanent injuries to her head, body\nand limbs.\n7. The amount involved exceeds the sum of Three Thousand\nDollars ($8,000.00) exclusive of interest and costs.\nDamages will be claimed by the plaintiff against the\ndefendent under this count in the sun of One Hundred Thousand Dollars (\n$100,000.00) together with costs of this suit to be taxed.\nSIXTH COUNT\n1. The plaintiff repeats the ellegations of the fifth count\nand makes them a part hereof.\n2. By reason of the fraud and deceit practised by the\ndefendant upon the plaintiff, she has been and will be obliged to spend large\nsums of money for medicines and medical sttendance, surgeons, and surgical\nattendance, dentists, nurses, hospitals, care and attention for herself.\n3. By reason of the fraud and deceit practised by the\ndefendent upon the plaintiff, she was disabled from following her usual\noccupation and her earning power was impaired and will in the future be in-\npaired, and she will be deprived of future earnings.\nDamages will be claimed under this count in the sum of Ten\nThousand Dollars ($10,000.00) together with costs of this suit to be taxed.\nPeer & Mahr\n(Signed)\nAttorneys of Plaintiff.\nUNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT\nDISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY\nLUCY M. SULLIVAN\nPlaintiff,\nvs.\nUNITED STATES RADIUM CORPORA-\nTION, a corporation of the\nState of Delaware,\nDefendant\n$Corporation Trust Co.,\n15 Exchange Place,\nJersey City, N.J.\nPeer & Mahr,\n744 Broad St.,\nNewark, N.J.\nAttys. of Plaintiff"
}