Carter Roy
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Okay, let's go back to Grace Fryer, the eager 18-year-old from the beginning of our story.
By 1925, she's falling apart.
Her spine is deteriorating.
She has to wear a steel back brace just to sit up.
Her jaw is crumbling.
She's had 20 operations.
She's working at a bank now, running her department, but she can barely move her left arm.
Grace knows what's killing her.
She's read the drinker's report.
She's talked to her former coworkers.
They're all experiencing the same symptoms.
So Grace decides to sue.
There's just one problem.
She can't find a lawyer.
USRC is a defense contractor with deep pockets and powerful connections.
The statute of limitations for workplace injuries in New Jersey is just two years, and Grace left the company five years ago.
Most lawyers tell her the case is unwinnable.
Grace spends two years searching for representation.
Two years while the radium continues to eat away at her bones.
Finally, in 1927, she finds a young Newark attorney named Raymond Berry who agrees to take the case.