Mr C was diagnosed with lung cancer in July 2016, following historic asbestos exposure during his working life. In October 2019 Mr C underwent a lobectomy to have the cancer removed.
Mr C has a complex occupational history having worked at for various companies at numerous sites across the UK. The majority of Mr C’s working life was spent in Manchester and Southampton. He spent a considerable amount of his working life at Carrington Oil refinery, the dry docks in Southampton and at Fawley Power Station.
Following obtaining a detailed witness statement from Mr C a claim was initiated against 15 Defendants who Mr C alleged exposed him to asbestos during his working life.
Mr C was a trained pipefitter welder and was exposed in numerous ways to include replacing and renewing pipework lagged with asbestos upon ships and in refineries and power stations. In doing so Mr C was required to remove old and dusty asbestos lagging.
To enable a successful claim to be bought a substantial level of asbestos exposure needed to be evidenced to enable the Helsinki criteria to be satisfied.
Following discussions with the Defendants steps were taken to issue court proceedings formally in the specialist asbestos division within the Royal Court of Justice in London who specifically deal with cases such as these.
The parties were required to provide all relevant documents that they held and deemed relevant to the claim to include records regarding works undertaken at the time of Mr C’s employment.
Due to the nature of the disease the claim was initiated in a way that each Defendant was responsible for their share of the claim based on either on the length of time they employed Mr C or the dose of asbestos they exposed him to. The parties relied on expert evidence from experienced engineers to support their claim and to assist with quantifying the asbestos exposure suffered.
The parties reached a favourable settlement in Mr C’s favour without the need for a formal court hearing providing Mr C with compensation for the harm caused by asbestos exposure throughout his working life.
