Johns Manville is an American company based in

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, that manufactures insulation,

roofing materials Roofing material is the outermost layer on the roof of a building, sometimes self-supporting, but generally supported by an underlying structure. A building's roofing material provides shelter from the natural elements. The outer layer of a roof ...

and engineered products. For much of the 20th century, the then-titled Johns-Manville Corporation was the global leader in the manufacture of asbestos-containing products, including asbestos pipe insulation, asbestos shingles, asbestos roofing materials and asbestos cement pipe.''In Re Johns-manville Corp., et al., Debtors.the Hospital and University Property Damage Claimants, Appellants, v. Johns-manville Corporation, et al.'', 7 F.3d 32 (2nd Cir., Oct. 4, 1993)
/ref> The stock of Johns-Manville Corporation had been included in the

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from January 29, 1930 to August 27, 1982, when it was replaced by American Express. In 1981, Johns-Manville Corporation was renamed simply Manville. In 1982, facing unprecedented liability for asbestos injury claims, the company voluntarily filed for bankruptcy under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiu ...

bought the company in 2001, then chairman and CEO Jerry Henry retired in 2004. At that point, Steve Hochhauser became chairman, president and CEO. Todd Raba succeeded him in the summer of 2007; he came from MidAmerican Energy Holdings, another Berkshire Hathaway company. In November 2012, Mary Rhinehart was named president and CEO, and she added the title of chairman in 2014. In September 2020, Bob Wamboldt became CEO and president, while Rhinehart remained as chairman. Today, Johns Manville is a manufacturer and marketer of products for building insulation, mechanical insulation, commercial roofing and roof insulation, as well as fibers and non-woven materials for commercial, industrial and residential applications. The company serves markets that include aerospace, automotive and transportation, air handling, appliance, HVAC, pipe and equipment, filtration, waterproofing, building, flooring, interiors and wind energy. Johns Manville has annual sales over $3 billion. The company employs 8,000 people and operates 46 manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe.

History

Early years

The present-day Johns Manville company traces its origins to two early manufacturers of construction materials. At the age of 21, Henry Ward Johns had already patented roofing and insulation products. In 1858, he founded the H.W. Johns Manufacturing Company in

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. In 1885, the Manville Covering Company was established in

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by Charles B. Manville, whose grandson was the much-married socialite Tommy Manville. In 1901, the H.W. Johns Manufacturing Company and the Manville Covering Company merged to form the H.W. Johns-Manville Company. In 1926, the firm was renamed to Johns-Manville Corporation. During the 1930s, industrialist Lewis H. Brown was

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of the company. In 1949, the Canadian branch of the company was involved in the

Asbestos Strike The Asbestos strike of 1949, based in and around the town of Asbestos, Quebec, Canada, was a four-month labour dispute by asbestos miners. It has traditionally been portrayed as a turning point in Quebec history that helped lead to the Quiet Rev ...

at its mines in Asbestos,

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. In 1958, Johns-Manville bought Glass Fibers, Inc., based in

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, from Randolph Barnard. This purchase propelled the company's insulation division. At that time, Dominick Labino was working for Glass Fibers; Barnard and Labino both joined Johns-Manville. Glass Fibers had several plants in Waterville and Defiance, which are still in operation under Johns Manville, Beginning just after World War II, sculptor Beverly Bender spent thirty-two years working in the art department of Johns-Manville, creating animal sculpture in her free time.

Asbestos litigation and bankruptcy

Starting as early as 1929, Johns-Manville employees began claiming disability from lung diseases. The claims settled out of court, with a secrecy order. In 1943, Samac Laboratory in New York confirmed the link between asbestos and cancer, but Johns-Manville suppressed the report. From approximately 1930 to 1950, attorney Vandiver Brown handled involvement in such lawsuits. Files and testimony alleged that " ohns-Manvillemaintained a policy into the 1970s of not telling its employes that their physical examinations showed signs of asbestosis". In 1943, Johns-Manville suppressed a report confirming the link between asbestos and cancer. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the company faced thousands of individual and

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuits based on asbestos-related injuries such as

asbestosis Asbestosis is long-term inflammation and scarring of the lungs due to asbestos fibers. Symptoms may include shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, and chest tightness. Complications may include lung cancer, mesothelioma, and pulmonary heart d ...

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

and malignant

mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The most common area affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lining ...

. Many new settlements included offering $600 for asbestosis, while the FAIR Act called for $12,000 for this condition level. As a result, the company voluntarily filed for

chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...

in 1982. At that time, it was the largest company in United States history to have done so. The filing shocked

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s, but a few, such as Gary J. Aguirre, had predicted the filing and had forced the company to post a bond to guarantee payment to their clients. The bankruptcy was resolved by the formation of the Manville Trust to pay asbestos tort claimants in an orderly fashion by giving the trust the lion's share of the equity in the company. The bankruptcy took over five years to process and resulted in protracted litigation. The Manville Trust is still in operation today.

Post-bankruptcy

The company emerged from Chapter 11 in 1988 as the Manville Corporation. In 1997, the company changed its name back to Johns Manville (but without the hyphen), and this is the name under which it does business today. In 2001, Johns Manville became a wholly owned subsidiary of

(, ). In 2012, Johns Manville appointed a new CEO, Mary Rhinehart. She was the CFO for Johns Manville and had been with the company for over 33 years. In 2020, Bob Wamboldt became the president and CEO, while Rhinehart remained as chairman.

Manville, New Jersey

The town of Manville, New Jersey, is named for the company. It had a large manufacturing plant in the borough.

References

External links

*
About the class action suit
in the Asbestos Hazards Handbook (London Hazards Centre)
Johns Manville 150 year commemoration publication

Home Insulation site

Building Materials site

Energy Tax Credit

Insulation

Manville Trust
{{Authority control Glassmaking companies of the United States Asbestos Companies based in New York City Manufacturing companies based in Denver Manville, New Jersey Manufacturing companies established in 1858 1858 establishments in New York (state) Former components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Berkshire Hathaway Superfund sites in Illinois