Product and Premises Description

Nash Motors (founded 1916 by Charles W. Nash in Kenosha Wisconsin by acquisition of the Thomas B. Jeffery Company) was through the first half of the 20th century one of the principal independent U.S. automobile manufacturers. In 1937 Nash merged with the Kelvinator refrigerator company to form Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, combining automobile production at Kenosha WI with major appliance manufacturing at Detroit MI and Grand Rapids MI. In 1954 Nash-Kelvinator merged with Hudson Motor Car Company to form American Motors Corporation (AMC), which was ultimately acquired by Chrysler in 1987.

Product-vector pathways Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation:

  • Asbestos brake linings on Nash and Nash-Kelvinator passenger-car brake shoes supplied by Bendix, Raybestos, Abex, and other OEM friction manufacturers
  • Asbestos clutch facings on Nash manual transmissions
  • Asbestos exhaust manifold gaskets and heat shields on Nash engines
  • Asbestos undercoating and body deadener on Nash vehicles
  • Asbestos insulation in Kelvinator refrigerators, freezers, and ranges

Premises-vector pathways at the Kenosha WI manufacturing complex — the historic Jeffery-Nash plant that continued as the AMC Kenosha assembly plant into the 1980s — and the Kelvinator appliance plants at Detroit MI and Grand Rapids MI:

  • Asbestos pipe covering on plant steam, process, and heating piping
  • Asbestos refractory in heat-treat furnaces and paint-bake ovens
  • Asbestos block insulation on plant boilers
  • Asbestos gaskets and packing at process equipment
  • Asbestos electrical insulation on plant motor and switchgear systems

Nash Motors and Nash-Kelvinator Corporation (and their successors in liability, including AMC and Chrysler) have been named as Manufacturer Defendants and Premises Defendants in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.

Workers Exposed

  • UAW Local members at Nash Kenosha WI, Kelvinator Detroit MI, and Kelvinator Grand Rapids MI plants
  • Auto mechanics servicing Nash brake linings, clutches, and engine gaskets
  • Brake mechanics working Nash vehicle brake systems
  • Appliance workers at Kelvinator refrigerator, freezer, and range plants
  • Insulators (HFIAW Local members) on Nash-Kelvinator construction and turnaround crews
  • Construction-trade workforces on Nash-Kelvinator capital projects

If You Worked With Nash Vehicles or at a Nash-Kelvinator Plant

If you worked with Nash or Nash-Kelvinator brake linings, clutches, or engine gaskets during the asbestos era — or worked at the Nash Kenosha WI plant or a Kelvinator appliance plant — as an employee or as a dispatched contractor trade worker — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related illness, you may have legal rights.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956