Solicitor Sarah Masters settled a case on behalf of the estate of a lady who passed away from malignant mesothelioma of the pleura. She sadly passed away at the age of 85.
Between 1965 – 1971 the deceased had been employed at Turner Brothers Asbestos Company Limited in Hindley Green, Wigan. She worked as a winder. There was a lot of asbestos in the factory where she worked and she worked closely with people who were weaving asbestos, which caused a large amount of dust. The deceased had to clean her machine with a hand brush and this meant brushing out asbestos dust which then got into the atmosphere and inhaled. She was exposed to both white and blue asbestos. The deceased was unaware of the dangers of working with asbestos at the time.
From 2015 the deceased became breathless and this got progressively worse. By 2017 she was only able to walk 50 yards. In May 2017 she was diagnosed with mesothelioma. The deceased experienced a progressive increase in her breathlessness. She developed pain, fatigue and increasing debility. The deceased was admitted to a Hospice and by this point, she was unfortunately severely disabled, requiring personal care. She sadly passed away in November 2018 at the age of 85. Her cause of death was given as:
With a conclusion of industrial disease.
More than 2,500 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed annually in the UK. The great majority of them are caused by exposure to asbestos and in most cases, the exposure to asbestos is occupational.
There is usually a significant time lag between exposure to asbestos and the development of mesothelioma. This is typically several decades.
Our medical expert confirmed that on the balance of probabilities, the deceased exposure to asbestos whilst working for Turner Brothers Asbestos Company Limited was sufficient to materially increase her risk of developing mesothelioma.
Unfortunately, Turner Brothers Asbestos Company Limited went into administration in 2001, financially crippled by the sheer number of legal claims against it, and prevented from producing or importing asbestos by the European Union. A mere £100m compensation scheme was established by the administrators.
We assisted the estate of the deceased by applying to the T&N Asbestos Trustee Company’s compensation scheme. Unfortunately, Turner and Newall claims cannot be pursued through the normal civil claims process through the courts and must be pursued by the compensation scheme. Those claiming from the scheme only receive a dividend compensation payment and not the full value of the claim due to the limitations of the scheme with the Trust.
The estate of the deceased were awarded just over £93,000 in compensation.