Asbestos claims

Mr W contacted Hugh James specialist asbestos team following his diagnosis with mesothelioma, after a recommendation to get in touch with us from a lung cancer nurse specialist.

Mr W has been employed by Compass Sheet Metal between 1964 and 1975, and during this time was required to mix up asbestos lagging and apply it to pipework.

Hugh James’ specialist asbestos lawyers were already aware of the details of the defendant and their employers’ liability insurers, and were accordingly able to expedite the claim. Liability was quickly admitted, and an interim payment of £50,000 was provided.

The losses and expenses arising from Mr W’s illness, save for future treatment, were agreed in the sum of £235,000. In addition to this monetary compensation, an unlimited financial indemnity agreement was agreed to enable Mr W to undergo private immunotherapy treatment.
The matter was fully resolved within 10 months of instruction.

Mr N was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2018 and unfortunately passed away before having the opportunity to instruct solicitors.

Upon instruction by Mr N’s family, a copy of his HMRC schedule was obtained and it was considered likely that Mr N had been exposed to asbestos during the course of his employment with a regional electric company. It was imperative to the claim that witness evidence detailing such exposure was obtained and so extensive investigations were made to track down Mr N’s former colleagues.

After speaking with Mr N’s colleagues, it was established that during Mr N’s apprenticeship in the early 1960s, he had been exposed to asbestos both directly (from dismantling storage heaters that contained asbestos), and indirectly (from working close to carpenters on new residential builds).

After obtaining medical evidence in support of the claim, and preparing a detailed schedule detailing the losses and expenses arising from Mr N’s illness, the matter was resolved swiftly.

Ms W was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2015, following historic asbestos exposure with Urastone who were part of British Eurolite, where she worked between 1963 and 1965. Sadly, she passed away in April 2017, aged 74. It was estimated that her life expectancy had been reduced by 11 years as a result of her diagnosis of asbestos related cancer.

Urastone manufactured asbestos products, and Ms W was required to cut asbestos sheets to the shape of a gas terminal. Once cut to size, she placed the sheets in a mould which was put into a large industrial oven. After they had been removed, Ms W filed and sanded down the mould which exposed her to asbestos dust.

Following her death, a claim was brought on behalf of Ms W’s estate, Ms W was also a lifelong heavy smoker, and the key issue was whether she had suffered sufficient asbestos exposure in her short period of employment to satisfy Helsinki criteria. This was a particularly challenging issue in light of Ms W;s extensive smoking history however he matter was successfully resolved following negotiations with Urastone’s representatives

Ms H’s husband had developed mesothelioma and initially instructed another firm pursue a claim, however this firm were unable to identify the source of his asbestos exposure, and he sadly passed away within 4 months of diagnosis.

Hugh James were then contacted directly by family members, following a personal recommendation, having settled a similar case for a Spanish based claimant.

Hugh James gathered evidence through a variety of sources, and established that Mr H had previously worked for a large company for a number of years within a niche team. It was during this time that he had been exposed to asbestos. The the source of exposure was quickly identified due to our previous experience against this defendant.

Prior to diagnosis, Ms H and her husband had both worked full time. Mr H was an experienced carpenter, helping his children to develop properties in his free time, and Mrs H was left widowed with 3 children and unable to work as a result of his death. The damages received as a result of the claim will there provide invaluable financial support for the family into the future.

Mr R sadly passed away having suffered with mesothelioma. A claim was pursued on behalf of his estate. Mr R had been exposed to asbestos whilst working on the construction of a housing estate during his employment with Scudamore and Thomas. Unfortunately, it was not possible to identify employers’ liability insurance for the company.

In light of the lack of insurance, a decision was taken to pursue Cape Intermediate Holdings Ltd in respect of a product liability claim against Cape who were the manufacturers of asbestolux, which is what Mr R had used on site.

A product liability claim was pursued; something which is unusual in the UK, and was therefore a novel point of law. The claim settled shortly after it had been issued at court, and before the court proceedings had been formally served upon Cape.

Mr P contacted us following his diagnosis with mesothelioma.  Mr P had worked at Triang Toys in Merthyr Tydfil in his early 20s where he was exposed to asbestos whilst working in the warehouse. The girders in the warehouse were lined with asbestos insulation to protect against fire. Unfortunately, the asbestos insulation was damaged by forklift trucks which frequently collided with the girders, damaging the asbestos insulation triggering the release of asbestos dust. into the atmosphere and onto the workmen below.

Mr P was keen to settle his case within his lifetime, and we were able to secure an early admission for him, and then settle his case shortly thereafter, in accordance with his wishes.

We were instructed by Mrs B following her diagnosis with mesothelioma. At the time of her diagnosis Mrs B did not know where she had been exposed to asbestos.

Mrs B had worked as secretary to a factory manager at Harker Stagg Ltd (a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ineglheim) for two years after leaving school.

Following extensive investigations it was established that the factory Mrs B had worked in was lined with asbestos sheets. Mrs B was able to recall typing up reports in the laboratory attached to the factory on a daily basis. On occasions the maintenance team repaired and replaced the asbestos sheets located in the ceiling of the laboratory whilst Mrs B was going about her work. The disturbance of the sheets caused asbestos dust to be released into the atmosphere around Mrs B.

Upon confirmation that the building contained asbestos medical evidence was obtained in support of Mrs B’s claim. Following swift negotiations with the defendant our specialist asbestos lawyers settled Mrs B’s claim for £113,000.

Mr S was diagnosed with mesothelioma arising from his exposure to asbestos dust during his school holiday at the age of 17, Mr S spent two weeks working for Metal Box Co Ltd in Neath, South Wales. Mr S’s job was to climb inside large industrial ovens which were lined with asbestos and scrape away the old asbestos insulation. Mr S went home covered in asbestos dust each day. Many other schoolboys were employed by the company in similar roles stripping out old asbestos insulation.

Many years later Mr S was diagnosed with mesothelioma caused by his previous asbestos exposure. and following his diagnosis Mr S instructed Hugh James specialist asbestos lawyers. An interim payment of £50,000 was quickly obtained from Metal Box Co Ltd and judgment entered against the company whilst the full value of Mr S’s claim was investigated. The claim was swiftly resolved thereafter for a sum in excess of £300,000.

Hugh James represented Mr L following his diagnosis with Mesothelioma in May 2019. Mr L had worked for various companies whilst serving in the Merchant Navy. He was exposed to asbestos as an engine room rating, whilst removing and replacing sections of asbestos lagging on the pipework of ship engine rooms.

Extensive company research was undertaken to establish the strongest defendants to pursue. Mr L had kept his Merchant Navy Discharge book which greatly assisted the case. Claims were intimated against the Ministry of Defence, Esso Petroleum and P&O.

Unfortunately, Mr L passed away before the claim was settled and the claim continued in the widow’s name.

In June 2020, Hugh James were successful in settling Mr L’s claim for £220,000 gross against all three defendants. The defendants went on to seek contribution from two further defendants.

Hugh James were instructed on a posthumous basis by Mr J’s family after the deceased sadly passed away from mesothelioma, only a few weeks after diagnosis.

It was presumed that the deceased was exposed to asbestos whilst working at the BT factory in Cwmcarn, Wales. The son and wife of the deceased had both worked at the factory, and were aware of incidences where the deceased had potentially come into contact with asbestos as a forklift truck driver. The family were able to provide details of a former colleague, Mr E, who worked alongside the deceased. Hugh James approached Mr E who was prepared to provide a witness statement in support of the claim.

Mr E confirmed that the deceased had suffered low-level asbestos exposure on a number of occasions whilst working at the factory. The main incident arose when they were asked to manoeuvre their forklifts through an area where old pipework had just been cleared of asbestos lagged pipework by specialist asbestos removal contractors. The contractors had failed to dispose properly of the asbestos lagging which meant that asbestos debris and dust was left on the floor which they then drove through. The incident was raised with their union at the time.

Interestingly, Mr E had been diagnosed with diffuse pleural thickening and had previously been investigated for mesothelioma, however the results were inconclusive. Hugh James took on a claim for Mr E on a pleural thickening basis and presented the same allegations to the defendant.

Mr E sadly passed away during the claim and no post-mortem was undertaken. Hugh James instructed a radiologist and a respiratory expert to provide reports. The experts confirmed that his scans and medical history were highly suspicious of mesothelioma. We were able to obtain the pleural fluid samples which Mr E had undertaken during his lifetime and these were sent for testing. The testing confirmed a loss of BAP1 was indicative of mesothelioma. Medical experts confirmed on the balance of probabilities, Mr E was also suffering from mesothelioma.

The defendant failed to admit liability in either matter. Proceedings were issued on Mr J’s claim first in order to progress the claim and put pressure on the defendant. In the run-up to the Case Management Conference, the representatives for BT agreed to settle both cases and Hugh James were able to secure valuable settlements for both widows.

Mr G contacted Hugh James following his diagnosis with asbestosis in November 2018. He had worked at the HM Dockyard in Plymouth in the 1950s, directly for the dockyard. Most of Mr G’s exposure came from him working full time in the engine rooms of ships where he would operate the machinery. Mr G worked closely to asbestos lagged pipework and machinery in these engine rooms. He also worked for Union Castle Mail Steamship Company in a similar role.

From 1960 until 1990, Mr G worked for the UK Atomic Energy Authority. Mr G’s role involved maintenance of laboratories with radioactive materials, where he would occasionally cut up Sindanyo boards containing asbestos. Collectively, this exposure satisfied Hugh James that Mr G met the Helsinki Criteria and had been put at risk of developing an asbestos-related condition.

The representative for Union Castle Mail Steamship Company raised a blue water shipping argument and said that the first official warning to ship owners concerning asbestos risks was 1977 in the Notice to Mariners, and that the company would not have had any awareness of the risks of asbestos prior to then, and therefore had no duty to protect Mr G. 

Hugh James raised counter arguments in respect of this and ultimately the defendant agreed to contribute towards final settlement. Hugh James successfully obtained a settlement from all three defendants.

Hugh James were instructed to represent Mr L who was diagnosed with mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos dust during his time working for Atlanta plastics in Cwmbran. Mr L was exposed to asbestos whilst checking and replacing the linings of heater bands within the machinery used in the plastics production process. Mr L set out that he was carrying out this process daily however this was denied by the defendants throughout the claim who alleged that it would have been done very rarely.

The defendants sought to rely on recently decided case law which suggested that extremely low doses of asbestos exposure cannot be deemed causative of mesothelioma legally. As there was no publicly available data concerning the use of asbestos within these types of machines, it meant that a significant amount of expert engineering evidence was required to examine the exact mechanism of asbestos exposure that Mr L suffered.

Mr L was keen to settle the claim during his lifetime in order to support his family, so Hugh James used the expert engineering evidence in conjunction with their own legal arguments to obtain settlement for him in a sum in excess £200,000 without the need of having a trial.