Complicated Mesothelioma case with small amount of asbestos exposure in factories
£75,000 Awarded in 2019
Mrs D was recently diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. Like many victims of the disease, this was a complete shock as she was otherwise very healthy and could not recall working with asbestos or being exposed to it in any other way.
She approached a firm of solicitors who rejected the claim due to lack of definite exposure.
Many firms will cherry pick cases, only taking on those that meet the obvious criteria for asbestos exposure and diagnosis.
When she approached our firm at RWK Goodman, we dug a little deeper and considered every conceivable time that she may have been in contact with asbestos.
She was based in Nottinghamshire and in her early years, worked in factories in the area. Our solicitors also looking into the possibility of secondary exposure from the work of brother and her partner at the time. There may have been exposure from asbestos brought back from their work with asbestos through the 1960s and 70s.
However, the companies that her partner and brother worked for had ceased to trade long ago and in order to pursue a claim of this nature it is a requirement to find an insurer within a decade of the mesothelioma diagnosis.
There only options left open to our solicitors was to apply for the Governments fund of last resort on the basis that there was dust in the factories that she worked in. This fund was set up to help victims of mesothelioma who are not able to find an insurer to make a claim against and will pay most of the compensation that an insurer would be made to pay. In one of the factories, owned by Imperial Tobacco, where she worked briefly, she recalled some maintenance and refurbishment work being carried out which may have caused asbestos dust to have been released.
All of this was vague and somewhat tenuous, but similar to many cases where exposure to asbestos was light and a distant memory, but as she must have been exposed somehow to get Mesothelioma, then on the balance of probability it was likely to have been in one of the factories.
Under these circumstances, the Court was not satisfied that a claim could me made against the defendants. However, a settlement was agreed in November 2018 for the sum of £75K.
If you, or someone you know has been diagnosed with Mesothelioma and would like some advise on whether it may be possible to claim compensation, please contact us by calling the number below, chat to us online or complete our claim form. It may be possible to claim even if there has been little asbestos exposure or you are not sure where that exposure took place.
Solicitor
Rachel James
Senior Associate
Rachel is a Senior Associate and Head of the Oxford Industrial Disease Team at Royds Withy King. Rachel regularly writes articles and edits the team newsletter “Airborne”. She also organises annual mesothelioma and lung cancer study days and speaks regularly at these events on topics linked to asbestos disease law.. Read more >
